


Seventeen Request Book

by seonghwhydoidothis



Series: Request Books [1]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: JunHao - Freeform, Little Seventeen, M/M, Multi, Please request!, Request book, Requests are Always Open, SeokSoo, Soonhoon - Freeform, hybrid seventeen, jeongcheol - Freeform, meanie, request work, seventeen oneshots, verkwan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:47:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 34,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27533257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seonghwhydoidothis/pseuds/seonghwhydoidothis
Summary: This will be a request book where you guys can request pieces of writing from me from hybrid or littlespace AUs, with the members of seventeen. Requests are always open, please comment and send some in! Thank you!Ch.1: Little!MingyuCh. 2: Hybrid!Vernon (Verkwan)Ch. 3: Little!96 Line with Caregiver!95 LineCh. 4: Little!HHU (OT4)Ch. 5: Hybrid!Mingyu (GyuJun)Ch. 6: A/B/O Meanie (Omega!Mingyu)(Alpha!Wonwoo)Ch. 7: Idolverse SoonwooCh. 8: Hybrid! Mingyu, Hybrid! Jeonghan, Hybrid!Wonwoo (Wonwoo/Hansol)(Seungcheol/Mingyu)(Jisoo/Jeonghan)
Relationships: Boo Seungkwan/Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups, Boo Seungkwan/Chwe Hansol | Vernon, Boo Seungkwan/Hong Jisoo | Joshua, Boo Seungkwan/Jeon Wonwoo, Boo Seungkwan/Kim Mingyu, Boo Seungkwan/Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi, Boo Seungkwan/Lee Chan | Dino, Boo Seungkwan/Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Boo Seungkwan/Lee Seokmin | DK, Boo Seungkwan/Wen Jun Hui | Jun, Boo Seungkwan/Xu Ming Hao | The8, Boo Seungkwan/Yoon Jeonghan, Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Chwe Hansol | Vernon, Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Hong Jisoo | Joshua, Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Jeon Wonwoo, Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Kim Mingyu, Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi, Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Lee Chan | Dino, Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Lee Seokmin | DK, Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Wen Jun Hui | Jun, Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Xu Ming Hao | The8, Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Yoon Jeonghan, Chwe Hansol | Vernon/Hong Jisoo | Joshua, Chwe Hansol | Vernon/Jeon Wonwoo, Chwe Hansol | Vernon/Kim Mingyu, Chwe Hansol | Vernon/Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi, Chwe Hansol | Vernon/Lee Chan | Dino, Chwe Hansol | Vernon/Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Chwe Hansol | Vernon/Lee Seokmin | DK, Chwe Hansol | Vernon/Wen Jun Hui | Jun, Chwe Hansol | Vernon/Xu Ming Hao | The8, Chwe Hansol | Vernon/Yoon Jeonghan, Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Jeon Wonwoo, Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Kim Mingyu, Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi, Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Lee Chan | Dino, Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Lee Seokmin | DK, Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Wen Jun Hui | Jun, Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Xu Ming Hao | The8, Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Yoon Jeonghan, Jeon Wonwoo/Kim Mingyu, Jeon Wonwoo/Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi, Jeon Wonwoo/Lee Chan | Dino, Jeon Wonwoo/Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Jeon Wonwoo/Lee Seokmin | DK, Jeon Wonwoo/Wen Jun Hui | Jun, Jeon Wonwoo/Xu Ming Hao | The8, Jeon Wonwoo/Yoon Jeonghan, Kim Mingyu/Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi, Kim Mingyu/Lee Chan | Dino, Kim Mingyu/Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Kim Mingyu/Lee Seokmin | DK, Kim Mingyu/Wen Jun Hui | Jun, Kim Mingyu/Xu Ming Hao | The8, Kim Mingyu/Yoon Jeonghan, Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Lee Chan | Dino, Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Lee Seokmin | DK, Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Wen Jun Hui | Jun, Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Xu Ming Hao | The8, Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Yoon Jeonghan, Lee Chan | Dino/Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Lee Chan | Dino/Lee Seokmin | DK, Lee Chan | Dino/Wen Jun Hui | Jun, Lee Chan | Dino/Xu Ming Hao | The8, Lee Chan | Dino/Yoon Jeonghan, Lee Jihoon | Woozi/Lee Seokmin | DK, Lee Jihoon | Woozi/Wen Jun Hui | Jun, Lee Jihoon | Woozi/Xu Ming Hao | The8, Lee Jihoon | Woozi/Yoon Jeonghan, Lee Seokmin | DK/Wen Jun Hui | Jun, Lee Seokmin | DK/Xu Ming Hao | The8, Lee Seokmin | DK/Yoon Jeonghan, Wen Jun Hui | Jun/Xu Ming Hao | The8, Wen Jun Hui | Jun/Yoon Jeonghan, Xu Ming Hao | The8/Yoon Jeonghan
Series: Request Books [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2012440
Comments: 181
Kudos: 235





	1. Intro/Requests

hihi!! I hope you end up enjoying this book, I'm excited to see if anyone requests anything. I'm most comfortable writing about the AUs I've mentioned, but I'm gonna try to step out of my comfort zone a little bit more and more, so if you have other AUs to request, feel free to do so, and I will consider writing them, based off of how I feel about the prompt. Thank you so much, and please comment a request for a ficlet down below!! <3


	2. Bad Guys (Little!Mingyu)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mingyu hasn't had time to regress in _forever_ , but when their group gets stopped by a handful of touchy fans, he doesn't really have a choice, the stress and fear consume him and his members rush to take care of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hihi!! I'm sorry this request kinda took a while, it just kept getting longer and longer skjgfg  
> This was a combination of two similar requests:  
> Requested by CaseySkylarLam: Could I request a Mingyu centric fic (idolverse) where he becomes a little when stressed due to sasaengs? Thank you!  
> Requested by Lizzyyu: Can I request for meanie fanfics with little mingyu? Thank you <3  
> I hope you enjoy, I'll be moving onto the next fic request now, and as it says in the first chapter, requests are always open! Feel free to request something, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! <3

In all honesty, the hardest part of slipping for Mingyu was the act itself. It wasn’t ever the after effects, or the work that he missed and had to catch up on, it was always the process of slipping. He always felt… well, _weird_. 

It wasn’t his caretakers, he knew that. Jeonghan always cooed over him, (which really confused Mingyu, because there was no denying that when he was big, he was the absolute butt monkey of the group, especially to Jeonghan), and he was always able to wriggle into Wonwoo’s lap whether the man liked it or not. (Wonwoo always liked it. Always). The rest doted on him just as much, so he knew that he wasn’t uncomfortable because of the way that they treated him.

And he couldn’t ever recall a time where he’d slipped in the past, before meeting his members, and things had gone wrong. He had been fortunate enough to never slip in front of anyone who wouldn’t have understood.

So what was it?

What was it about slipping that made him feel like he wanted to crawl out of his skin and hide? The process constricted his chest and stole the air from his lungs on a good day, and his bad days usually resulted in being rocked to sleep with tears streaked down his cheeks and a pacifier in his mouth. 

He suspected that it was because he was self conscious about needing to regress. Some little part of him had always admonished himself for needing to be taken care of like a child when he was twenty-three years old, and taller than every single one of his caretakers. That part of him got smaller and smaller every day, but it whispered in his ear every time he gave into his urges and haunted him like a ghost.

Unfortunately, Mingyu couldn’t just ignore these periods of littlespace. He _needed_ it, it wasn’t a choice. He could maybe repress it if they were at a fanmeeting, or on stage, and needed to buy a few more hours, but when it came to needing to postpone it for days or weeks, Mingyu couldn’t do it. 

Thankfully, Seventeen was in a relatively relaxed period of time, so Mingyu had time to regress. They’d just had a comeback, and were almost finished up with promotions and performances. It was the one time where they could relax without having to immediately come up with new material. They were getting bigger and bigger as a group, and it was so gratifying to watch the fans react to their performances, to their energy, to their hard work. 

However, they hadn’t expected their latest comeback to attract so much unwanted attention. There were always those fans that took it just a _little_ too far, but they were usually able to play it off with a forced smile and a tense redirection of conversation. Worst case scenario, things got too intense, and law enforcement had to be involved, but that almost never happened. 

_Almost_ never.

\--

Fanmeetings were especially hard for Mingyu. He loved meeting fans, of course, but so many people gifted him stuffed animals, gave him headbands to wear that had animal ears on them, or an assortment of colorful candy. Of course, any food had to be thoroughly processed first, before any of them were allowed to eat it, but just _looking_ at it was enough to make Mingyu feel like, well, a kid in a candy store. 

He only had a few more fans to greet, and his arms were positively stuffed full of plushies. There was a ducky, a panda, a puppy, a teddy bear, a frog (that would definitely be given to Minghao later), a kitty, a dragon, there were so many! Mingyu couldn’t wait to get back to the dorm and pile them all up on his bed so that he could be nice and cozy later. He knew that he really needed to be in littlespace this upcoming week, so he was adamantly pushing away all of the self-degrading little whispers that were floating around his brain. He needed this. He just needed to get through their celebratory dinner that night, and he’d be fine. He wasn’t going to let himself ruin this.

The members were lined up at their table in age order, so he was bordered by Seokmin and Minghao. Seokmin was talking _very_ animatedly to the fan that was in front of him and Mingyu had already sent the person before that off to Minghao, so he had a moment of calm. He looked down at the stuffies in his arms, a fond smile creeping onto his face as he realized that, when added to his small collection at home, they made thirteen! He could name each one after one of his members, and he could take the puppy for himself. 

_Finally_ , Seokmin let the fan in front of him go and they slid over to Mingyu, five headbands gripped tightly in their hands. They quickly separated one that had two floppy dog ears hanging from it, passing it over to Mingyu with a giddy grin, “This is for you.”

“Thank you!” Mingyu grinned, bowing his head so that the fan could slide the headband over his head and behind his ears. When he felt it slide into place securely he straightened again, feeling the soft material of the ears hang down over his face and brush against his cheeks. 

He made casual conversation with the fan, signing their album and the photocard that they’d gotten of him in it. He asked them if he was their bias, and they abashedly said no, but he understood and thanked them for their gifts, wishing them well as he sent them off to the next member in line. 

The last few fans came and went and Mingyu was left with his truckload of stuffies, a generous helping of candies, and the headband that was still nestled securely behind his ears. Maybe when they got back to the dorm, Cheollie would paint his face to look like a puppy too!

There were a few fans still lingering by the building when they loaded into their separate cars but Mingyu thought nothing of it, waving excitedly to them before Jihoon made a show of pushing him into the backseat of the car. The fans laughed at their antics, pulling out their phones and most likely snapping a few pictures.

They were well on their way back to the dorms when Jun poked at Mingyu’s cheeks, “Don’t you wanna take off the headband?”

“No, I want it on. ‘S so soft.” Mingyu grinned, proudly brandishing one of the fuzzy ears for Junhui to touch.

Jun hummed appreciatively at the gesture, taking the fake ear in his hand and brushing it over Mingyu’s nose. Mingyu squealed, the sound just a little too high-pitched for Big Mingyu. Jeonghan turned around from his spot in the passenger’s seat, brows furrowed in concern.

“Gyu, are you slipping?”

“No!” Mingyu shook his head vehemently, he couldn’t! Not when they still had their celebratory dinner ahead of them. He couldn’t go to a restaurant while he was little, he’d make a mess and people would make fun of him!

Jun snorted from beside Mingyu, letting the cloth fall from his hands, “Yeah right. ‘S fine, you know. We can reschedule dinner.”

Mingyu frowned, shaking his head. He wasn’t gonna cause trouble. The staff had gone through a lot of trouble to make those dinner reservations for them, he wasn’t about to blow it. He could deal with it. He _could_.

Could he?

\--

Mingyu’s suit and tie felt especially tight as they all piled into their cars again, constricting his throat as he tried pushing away the memories of how he’d just gotten to spread out his stuffed animals all over his room. He couldn’t slip now.

He stayed on his phone for the entire car ride, ignoring the games that he had downloaded for when he was little like they were the plague. He thought about watching youtube, but the second he opened the app a thumbnail for a cartoon popped up and he felt that little part of his brain try to take over again. He settled for listening to some music with his eyes closed as he leaned his head on Wonwoo’s shoulder.

He must have drifted off because what felt like just a few seconds after he closed his eyes he was being shaken awake and his makeshift pillow was getting out of the car.

“Come on, let’s go, Gyu. It’s time for dinner.”

Mingyu was _very_ tired, but food could only help.

\--

Mingyu felt that little itch in the back of his brain grow and grow throughout their dinner, and it was incredibly hard to use chopsticks when your brain was trying to age you down twenty years. Mingyu spilled more that night than he ever had, but he was thankful that none of his members admonished him for it, and that Jeonghan didn’t fuss about the stains on his nice shirt. 

It must have been the twelfth time when Mingyu spilled that he sighed, grabbing his soiled-beyond-repair napkin and trying to sop up some of the broth that had dripped into his lap. He looked around the restaurant for a waiter so that he could ask for a new napkin, and in a quick scan of the room noticed that someone was staring directly at him.

He stole a quick glance and it turned out that there were multiple people at the same table staring at him, and some part of his brain told him that he’d seen those faces before, but it took him a second to process it. It was the fans that they’d seen before, outside of the fanmeet. Funny that they ended up at the same restaurant. Mingyu smiled and waved, not knowing whether to be endeared or frightened at the raging blush that spread across their faces.

He turned back to his dinner and promptly forgot about the fans, because Seungkwan was telling a story and he knew that he’d get sassed if he didn’t listen, even though the younger boy had already told the story at least six times. 

\--

As much as Mingyu enjoyed the meal it went by agonizingly slow, each course feeling like an eternity. But finally, they were finished, and they bullied Soonyoung into paying for them. After another round of teasing laughter directed at the poor dancer they all grabbed their jackets and left, Mingyu trailing after Seungcheol so that he wouldn’t get lost. It had happened before, too many times to admit.

Mingyu wished that he could let himself relax on the car ride home, but he knew that he’d be most comfortable regressing in the safety of his bedroom, where no one could peer into his window and see him being coddled. He bit back the urge one last time, resting his head against the cool glass of the window and watching the city whizz by them.

\--

They were mere feet away from their dorms when they had to round a corner, nearly hitting pedestrians who were crossing the street in front of them. Mingyu’s eyes widened as he braced himself for impact but one never came, just a soft tug on his chest from the seatbelt and then it was over. He tried peering out of the windshield to see who they’d nearly killed and his stomach twisted funnily as he recognized the same fans who he’d seen three times already that night. How did they keep running into each other? Literally?

Seungcheol rolled down his window to apologize to them, smiling softly when they announced that they were carats. He made sure that they were all okay, bidding them goodbye and telling them to be careful walking across streets at night. Mingyu watched them nod and thank their leader with an uneasy expression, how did the fans even get there before they did?

Seungcheol made to roll his window up but one of the fans stuck their hand in the gap, preventing Seungcheol from rolling it up any further for fear of hurting them. Mingyu watched in horror as one of them tried sliding their hands under Seungcheol’s shirt and the man physically recoiled, shoving their hands away and trying to force the window to close without squishing the other fan’s fingers. The fan screamed, calling as much attention as possible to the fact that they were there, and one of their friends began yanking on the door handles of the car, trying to snap them open. One was still stationed right in front of the car so they couldn’t go anywhere without running anyone over.

Every member in the car was either shouting or trying to call someone else, and the noise level went up to where Mingyu felt that it was suffocating him. His head was pounding and that little itch in the back of his brain had transformed into a full blown pain that spread across his entire head and made him feel like he was going to pass out. He was gripping the arm of the person next to him but he couldn’t remember who it was, he just knew that they were more sturdy and stable than he was.

He tried willing away his headache but it was getting ridiculous at this point and both of his hands came to wind around the arm of the person next to him. He heard someone crying but he didn’t realize that it was him until hands gripped his cheeks and forced his head upwards.

“Mingyu, Mingyu, it’s okay, it’s okay, don’t cry,” He heard Seokmin’s voice and he felt someone tug him into a hug that only loosened the knot of panic in his chest infinitesimally. He only let go of Seokmin’s arm when he could turn and curl into whoever was hugging him from behind. He didn’t want the bad guys to get them! He wanted them to all be safe, he wanted the bad guys gone!

Mingyu vaguely registered that he was screaming, probably louder than the rest of the members combined, but he didn’t know how to stop as tears flowed freely down his cheeks. He felt whoever was holding him begin brushing their hands through his hair and he desperately gripped their shirt, trying to hold onto the last part of him that wasn’t completely vulnerable.

It didn’t work.

\--

Mingyu didn’t really remember what happened after that. He knew that the fans had been taken into custody, but he didn’t remember who called who to make that happen. He also didn’t remember ever leaving the car, but when he blinked his swollen eyes open, he was in his room, and there was someone curled up next to him.

He realized soon after waking that there was a pacifier in his mouth and he rolled over onto his side, seeing Wonwoo’s sleeping face next to his own. A soft coo escaped from Mingyu’s lips as he wriggled forwards, worming his way under Wonwoo’s arms and burrowing his face in the man’s chest.

Wonwoo groaned, sleepily blinking his eyes open and then jolting backwards when he realized that someone else was in the bed with him. Mingyu whined, eyes brimming with crocodile tears that threatened to slip down his cheeks at any second. Wonwoo seemed to finally register where he was and sighed in relief, flopping back onto the bed and holding out his arms to make it easier for Mingyu to curl up beside him. 

Mingyu giggled giddily from behind his pacifier and buried his face once more into the older’s soft pajama shirt. Mingyu laid still for a moment (which was a big accomplishment for him), before he remembered that he had new stuffies that he could play with. He shot upright, nearly clocking Wonwoo’s chin with the top of his head as he did so. Mingyu quickly found the stuffies on the floor beside the bed, not really thinking about how he was going to get to the floor before he was already tumbling off of the bed and landing beside the toys. Wonwoo gasped from the bed and Mingyu paused for a moment, noting that he had a little bit of pain in his head, but that it was nothing to cry about.

“Gyu, are you okay?”

“Mhm!” Mingyu nodded, hum coming out muffled from behind the pacifier still in his mouth. He quickly found the cat plushie and the dog plushie, crawling back up onto the bed and proudly presenting the cat plushie to Wonwoo.

“ ‘S this for me?” Wonwoo tried smiling at Mingyu but he was interrupted by a yawn, a few loose strands of hair flopping over his forehead.

Mingyu nodded, practically glowing with pride when Wonwoo thanked him. Wonwoo reached for his phone that was balanced on the nightstand beside Mingyu’s bed and he couldn’t even turn over again before Mingyu was draped over him, excitedly reaching for the phone like it was the greatest thing he’d ever seen.

“Hey!” Wonwoo laughed, trying to tug his phone out of Mingyu’s hands but ultimately surrendering, knowing that Mingyu had no idea what his password was anyways. Wonwoo was barely able to catch the time before Mingyu slid away from the lock screen, it was almost three in the morning. They’d gotten back at around nine. 

Mingyu was delighted to find that he did not need to unlock the phone to take pictures, and Wonwoo was pretty sure that 99% of his storage was now taken up with blurry pictures of Mingyu’s forehead, but it was fine. 

“D’ya wanna watch some cartoons Gyu?”

That definitely got Mingyu’s attention. Faster than Wonwoo could even process his phone was being shoved into his chest. He laughed, quickly unlocking his phone and opening youtube. He was getting pretty fast at queueing up cartoons, he’d give himself that. He handed the phone back to Mingyu, letting the little lay back on the pillows and immerse himself in the show.

Wonwoo slowly rose to his feet, letting his eyes slip shut for one last minute before he moved towards the dresser, crouching to reach for the bottom drawer. He pulled out Mingyu’s favorite onesie, a deep shade of navy blue with puppy faces dotted all over it. Wonwoo sat back on the bed, leaning down to be level with Mingyu, smoothing the little’s hair back off of his forehead and pressing a soft kiss to the skin there. Mingyu blinked sleepily, eyes flitting up to meet Wonwoo’s questioningly as the cartoon still lit up the dark room. 

“Is it okay if I change you? I got your puppy pajamas.”

Mingyu gasped excitedly, pacifier nearly falling out of his mouth. Mingyu let the phone fall onto the bed beside him, sitting up and tugging at his button-up that he’d been in since their dinner the night before. Wonwoo gently swatted Mingyu’s hands away, helping the little unbutton his shirt and slide out of it. Mingyu was very adamant about being able to unhook his own belt, so Wonwoo let him do it, but Mingyu still struggled with the dress pants. 

Finally Mingyu was ready for his onesie and Wonwoo helped the little wriggle into it, sliding the zipper into place and letting Mingyu zip it closed. Mingyu was quick to grab the stuffed dog, pointing at one of the dog’s faces that was stretched around his leg. Wonwoo smiled, praising the little on his discoveries.

“ ‘S me!”

“It’s you?” Wonwoo helped Mingyu sit up, running a hand through the little’s messy bedhead to try and tame some of the unruly hair.

“Mhm!” Mingyu giggled, swinging his legs back and forth and bouncing them off of the bed.

“You’re a puppy?”

“Yes!” 

Wonwoo smiled, leaning in to press a kiss to Mingyu’s nose, “You’re a pretty cute puppy.”

Mingyu smiled, gripping Wonwoo’s face in his hands and leaning in to press his lips- well, pacifier, to Wonwoo’s cheek. The effort was appreciated. Wonwoo got settled on the bed, grabbing his phone and waiting for Mingyu to join him but the little stayed kneeling on the edge of the bed, a slight frown visible from behind his pacifier.

“You okay Gyu?”

Mingyu tried whining about something but his pacifier muffled the words, making them unintelligible. Wonwoo sat back up, reaching for the pacifier and gently tugging it out of Mingyu’s mouth.

“What’s wrong?”

“ ‘M hungry,” Mingyu whined, a pout appearing on his face as he did so.

“Okay, we can get a snack.” Wonwoo stood, smiling softly when Mingyu held his hands up to be carried. The phone, dimly lit and quietly playing cartoons was left forgotten on the bed while Wonwoo carried Mingyu out to the kitchen, setting him on the counter as he dug through the pantry.

“Gyu, y’want crackers?” Wonwoo held up the package of crackers, hoping that the bunny on the front would entice the little so that he wouldn’t have to continue digging through their cupboards.

“Mmm, no thank you.”

At least he was polite about it.

\--

After at least twelve more ‘No thank you’s, Mingyu was happily snacking on goldfish and Wonwoo was trying to figure out how the hell they’d fit all of those snacks in there in the first place. After a package fell out of the pantry and onto the floor, eliciting both a rather loud crash and a particularly nasty swear from Wonwoo, the hallway light flicked on and footsteps made their way towards the kitchen. 

“Hello? Who’s up?” Seungcheol squinted to try and see who was in the kitchen, a sleepy smile stretching onto his face when he saw Mingyu in his onesie.

“Hi puppy. You’re awake?”

“Mhm!” It seemed as though they would never get a clear answer out of Mingyu, there was always either a pacifier or a snack getting in the way. It was fine though, because it was cute.

“Seungcheol,” Wonwoo stuck his head out of the pantry, arms full of food that just didn’t fit anymore, “please help me fix this. It’s a disaster.”

Seungcheol snorted, grabbing some of the snacks that Wonwoo was holding and shoving them back into the pantry as best he could. They finally got the food to fit inside, but whoever opened the door next would not be happy about it. 

“You got some goldfish?” Seungcheol pinched Mingyu’s cheek, giggling when the little tried squirming away from him.

“Mhm! Want one?” Mingyu presented Seungcheol and Wonwoo both with one single goldfish, “You can share!”

Wonwoo laughed, taking the cracker from Mingyu and snapping the head off. He handed the tail to Seungcheol, thanking Mingyu for being so generous with his precious snacks.

“Should we watch some cartoons Mingyu?” 

“Yes!” Mingyu cheered, nearly spilling his goldfish in an attempt to launch himself into Seungcheol’s arms. Seungcheol chuckled, hoisting Mingyu into his arms and carting him off to the living room.

They had long since begun keeping track of Mingyu’s favorite cartoons, saving the channel numbers on a post-it that was taped to the back of the remote. Seungcheol read off a few names, letting Mingyu choose from the few that they had listed there, and got everything up and running. Wonwoo was finally able to breathe for a second, not having to worry about keeping an eye on Mingyu every single second. He loved taking care of the little, but it was exhausting at best. 

Wonwoo fell asleep barely two minutes into whatever cartoon was on, his head falling to rest on the back of the couch cushions. He was awarded a five minute nap for his efforts, and then Mingyu noticed him sleeping, kneeling beside him and squishing his cheeks.

“-nwoo! Wonwoo, wake up! ‘S the best part!”

Wonwoo groaned, reluctantly opening his eyes and blearily watching the cartoon playing. If this was the best part, he didn’t want to see the rest of the episode. 

Seungcheol managed to divert Mingyu’s attention for the rest of the show, so that Wonwoo could doze off, but it wasn’t long before the noise from the television woke up a few of the members.

“Cheol? You out here?” Jeonghan’s whispered voice came from down the hallway and the man appeared shortly after, a blanket wrapped around his head and shoulders. Seungcheol slipped off of the couch, leaving Mingyu to watch his cartoons alone for a moment while he filled Jeonghan in.

“Gyu’s little. Wonwoo’s been up with him for a little while, I dunno how long though. You can go back to sleep, if you want.”

Jeonghan shook his head as adamantly as possible while he was still half asleep, “No, ‘m not missing little Gyu. I can sleep later.”

Seungcheol grinned softly as he lead Jeonghan to the couch, though the little was so entranced by the cartoon that he didn’t even notice the two sit down. Jeonghan laughed, teasingly poking Mingyu’s tummy.

“Hey! I woke up just for you, you’d better pay attention to me.” 

Mingyu’s face morphed into a blinding grin when he registered that Jeonghan was there, letting out an excited, ‘Hannie!’ and leaning forwards to rub his nose against Jeonghan’s in an eskimo kiss. Jeonghan cooed, pulling away only to kiss Mingyu’s nose before letting the little turn back to the television. 

Seungkwan, Seokmin, Soonyoung and Minghao all made their way out before six in the morning, and by the time the other members woke up the eight of them were all piled together on the floor in front of the tv. Mingyu was barely awake, pacifier dangerously close to falling out of his mouth as his eyes blinked sleepily, often closing for longer than they opened. All it took was for Soonyoung to gently rake a hand through the little’s hair before Mingyu was out, curling subconsciously into Soonyoung’s side and gripping the man’s hand in both of his own. 

Soonyoung smiled softly, pressing a kiss to Mingyu’s cheek before letting himself slip out of consciousness, hoping that none of the other members would be too noisy when they woke up, because whoever woke up little Mingyu would definitely have hell to pay. It had been terrifying watching Mingyu slip in the car, watching him become so helpless and scared and being unable to do anything about it. 

He was just glad that the next week was free, because Mingyu had that entire time to regress, and they wouldn’t have to worry about schedules at all. Mingyu deserved it, he didn’t get to slip very often, but Soonyoung was glad that Mingyu felt comfortable enough around them to do it. It meant the world to them, and there was nothing they liked more than taking care of Mingyu.


	3. Puppy Love (Hybrid!Vernon)(Verkwan)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Requested by verkwanr: a hybrid au would be nice! i would love to see seungkwan being the coolest guy and vern being just a puppy who has the biggest crush on him :) I just want something romantic and a lil bit hot (not in a sexual way just them in a good makeout session or sumn) it’s up to u. thank you for your patience <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Thanks for all of the nice feedback on the first (real) chapter, it means SO much to me! And thank you all for requesting, I'm so happy to be writing these for you, they're so fun. I hope you enjoy this chapter! <3  
> (Reminder: Requests are always open :) )

Hansol would have liked to call himself cool. He wasn’t exactly unpopular, he had lots of good friends, and most people knew his name on campus. But he really wasn’t the talk of the town either. 

He knew who was.

Boo Seungkwan definitely held the title of popular. And Hansol understood why, what with his _perfect_ face and _perfect_ hair and _perfect_ personality, what with him being _perfect_ , what was there not to love?

Like! Like, not love. Hansol did _not_ love Seungkwan, he’d never even talked to him! You can’t love someone who you’ve never even talked to, right? 

__Right?_ _

__\--_ _

“You _have_ to come with us,” Mingyu whined, dragging Hansol to their closet (read: communal pile of clothes). 

__“But I have homework to do, I can’t waste time on a party!” Even Hansol knew his excuse was unrealistic, he’d never once elected to do homework on a Friday night, usually waiting until about twenty minutes before it was due in class. It never gave him enough time to finish whatever it was, at least not well, but hey, who was Hansol to mess with tradition?_ _

__“Really? You couldn’t think of anything else?”_ _

__“I’m tired,” It was a whine in a tone of voice that bordered on questioning, because when wasn’t Hansol tired, really, but he wasn’t especially tired. Did that count?_ _

__Mingyu sighed, dropping Hansol’s hand and reaching for the dog hybrid’s face, gripping it tightly in both hands. Hansol felt his cheeks ache as Mingyu squeezed his face, but there was no way his little 5’10 ass could fight off the giant._ _

__Mingyu stared deep into Hansol’s eyes and honestly the dog hybrid was beginning to worry, what could possibly be this serious?_ _

__“Hansol…”_ _

__“Wut,” He tried speaking but his cheeks were squished so tightly that his mouth wasn’t able to function properly._ _

__“You have to stop being such a coward. It’s a serious problem. You need to grow a pair, please, I’m tired of doing all of the work for you.”_ _

__“What work?!” Hansol finally wriggled out of Mingyu’s grip, arms coming to cross defensively over his chest._ _

“I’m doing more to get you hooked up with Seungkwan than you are. This is not going to be a three-way. At some point you’re gonna have to do _something_.” 

Hansol rolled his eyes, “ _Never_ did I ask you to get involved. I don’t even like him!” 

“Okay, you can pretend like you don’t _love_ him because you think it makes you manly or whatever,” Mingyu scoffed, bending over to dig through their clothes pile, “But you’re not lying straight to my face and telling me that you don’t like the man you’ve been eyeing for six months.” 

__“I haven’t been eyeing anyone! You’re just seeing things.” Hansol’s raging blush gave him away and he tried turning away to hide it, fiddling with a single earring that was on his nightstand._ _

__“If you’re not looking at his face, you’re looking at his ass, don’t give me any of that.”_ _

_God_ , Hansol wanted to deny everything so badly but he knew that he had no leg left to stand on, was he really that obvious? 

__“Listen,” Mingyu’s voice was softer and didn’t make Hansol want to dive behind his bed and hide for thirty years (as much), “You can deny it all you want, but that’s not gonna change how you feel. I’m tired of seeing you pining. You know you’d be so happy with him, yeah?”_ _

“But he doesn’t even _know_ me. What if he rejects me…” 

“If he rejects you, I’ll feel sorry for him for the rest of his life. But if you never ask him because you’re afraid of being rejected, I’ll feel sorry for you for the rest of your life. It’s almost embarrassing how happy you get when you’re in the same room with him. Your stupid tail hurts when it goes that fast, y’know? I have _bruises_ , dummy.” Mingyu hooked a finger under the hem of his shorts, though he really didn’t have to lift them very much to show Hansol the faint blue and black blossoming down the man’s outer thigh from when Hansol’s tail had gotten a little bit out of control. 

“Sorry! Sorry, can’t help it.” Hansol perched on the end of his bed, looking down into their pile of clothes and sighing. Nothing was gonna look good on him. He couldn’t go to a party that Seungkwan was _definitely_ going to be at in some old ratty sweatpants and a gym shirt! 

__“I’m not telling you to stop, I’m just telling you to whack someone else for a change,” Mingyu teasingly shoved at Hansol’s shoulder, plunging a hand down into the pile of clothes and coming back out with a pair of leather pants._ _

__“These?”_ _

__Hansol snickered, grabbing the pants and rubbing the material against itself, making a rustling sound. He wouldn’t be able to walk without alerting everyone in the room to his presence._ _

__“Okay, maybe not then,” Mingyu rummaged around once more, next holding up a pair of jeans, whitewashed and ripped more than they weren’t down the front of the legs._ _

__“I think if I sit down, they might explode…” Hansol picked at a fraying thread that may have been holding the entire pair of jeans together._ _

__“You know,” Mingyu huffed, “It’s not my fault that you don’t know how to dress yourself, and it’s also not my fault that since he met Soonyoung, Wonwoo’s become the biggest twink that there’s ever been. I have no say over his wardrobe, did you see the harness that he bought the other night?”_ _

Hansol almost choked on nothing but air, “ _Harness_? I didn’t need to know that, man. Thanks a lot.” 

__“Be happy I’m not making you wear it. Unless-”_ _

“ _No_ harness.” 

__“You’re no fun.”_ _

__\--_ _

__Hansol was going to freeze his ass off. Literally, Mingyu had finally forced him into the overly-ripped jeans, and the lower strip of his stomach was exposed by the red cropped hoodie that he wore. Honestly, it was more like everything directly below the nipples was exposed, but Hansol was sure they’d make an appearance at some point. He also didn’t really have as toned of a stomach as he’d have liked to have while wearing this small of a shirt, but there was nothing he could do about that now. The top layer of his hair was gathered into a small ponytail that sat on top of his head, between his dog ears that he had been unable to conceal under any sort of hat._ _

__His tail was tucked into the back of the jeans but with every movement Hansol was sure that the jeans would burst. He thought about cutting a hole in the back of them, but Wonwoo would probably be pretty pissed if the next time he put them on, his asshole was showing, so Hansol just sucked it up and tried to keep his tail still._ _

__Mingyu had gotten rip-roaring drunk barely five minutes after they’d gotten there, (how, Hansol would never know), so while his friend was puking his guts out, hopefully over a trash can, sink, or toilet, Hansol was left to linger awkwardly by the hallway leading to all of the bedrooms. Unfortunately, he got pushed and shoved by many couples who could no longer see anything else but the back of their partner’s throat, so he had to drift around aimlessly instead._ _

Hansol really considered just leaving, Mingyu would probably find a hookup and get home safe with them, or just end up falling asleep with his head in the toilet full of his own puke, and while Hansol wanted to deal with the aftermath of _neither_ of those scenarios, he wanted to stand around half naked among a bunch of drunk barely-adults even less. 

__There were at least three separate games of beer pong going on around Hansol, and only one of them was using a table. One of the groups appeared to be aiming for their unconscious friends’ mouths with the ping-pong balls. Hansol had never thought to play it that way before._ _

Someone somewhere handed him a cup of something at some point and having an advanced sense of smell was _really_ not going well for Hansol, but he nursed it anyways. It tasted like every single type of alcohol that Hansol had ever had mixed together, and it probably was. 

Three strangers had already tried feeling Hansol’s dog ears and he was really, _really_ tired of having to dodge wasted, grabby nineteen-year-olds. The fourth time it happened Hansol whirled around, ready to really lay it out on whoever had made the mistake of grabbing him from behind- 

__“Hi! Hi, you’re the dog guy, right?” Boo Seungkwan was _very_ close to Hansol, eyes almost closed, entirely too hazy, and legs looking like they’d give out any second. One hand was wrapped loosely around a cup that fell from the man’s grip a mere two seconds later, splashing over both of their shoes and flooding them with sticky alcohol. Seungkwan didn’t seem to notice._ _

__Finally, Hansol found his voice, managing a strangled, “Yeah, yeah, that’s me.”_ _

__“Tha's so cool. So soft,” Seungkwan raised the hand that had previously been holding his drink, plopping it on top of Hansol’s head and brushing a finger over the dog hybrid’s ears. Hansol tried to keep his composure but his tail betrayed him, swaying as much as it could within the confines of the tight denim it was trapped in._ _

__“Uh.. um, thank you.”_ _

Hansol’s tail had unfortunately wormed its way to be pressed against his inner thigh, and he realized too late that it was _very_ visible to anyone who cared to look. 

__“Oh my god! You have a tail!” Seungkwan promptly dropped to his knees and Hansol was scared that he’d broken them seeing how hard he’d fallen. A blush bloomed brightly on his cheeks as Seungkwan scooted forwards, head sandwiched between Hansol’s thighs as he tried poking at the hybrid’s tail._ _

__As soon as Hansol registered the situation he stumbled backwards, landing on his ass, halfway inside the kitchen and halfway inside the living room, jeans soaking in the spilled alcohol still slick on the tile._ _

__“Woah!” Seungkwan giggled, scooching forwards on his knees until he was hovering over Hansol, “You must be really drunk, you’re so clumsy.”_ _

__Hansol wanted to point out that Seungkwan literally hadn’t realized that he wasn’t holding his drink anymore, but he knew it would get him nowhere, so he kept quiet. His mouth ran dry as he stared bewilderedly up at Seungkwan, waiting for the drunk man to get distracted, hungry, or just plain bored, and leave._ _

__“Y’know,” Seungkwan reached out to jab a finger at Hansol’s stomach, “You’re kinda cute.”_ _

__Hansol squeezed his eyes shut, the fluttering in his tummy overwhelming him for a moment. At the moment, near concussed from falling, almost naked, and slightly buzzed, he definitely did not look cute, but god did he hope Seungkwan didn’t sober soon enough to realize this. He opened his eyes again, intent on thanking Seungkwan and maybe helping the two of them off the floor, but all he saw was Seungkwan’s face even closer this time, their noses nearly brushing._ _

__“Uh,” Hansol breathed, not knowing whether he wanted to scramble back into the cabinet behind him or close the gap between them, “Thank you.”_ _

__“Mhm.” Seungkwan grinned, eyes sliding in and out of focus slightly before he finally moved, leaning forwards to press a wet, slightly crooked kiss to Hansol’s lips (it was more of his chin, really, but the sentiments were the same)._ _

__Hansol had let his eyes flutter shut and he was rather reluctant to open them, 100% sure that he was dreaming, and opening his eyes would wake him up. He only gave in and peered down at his lap when he felt something plop into it, eyes widening slightly when he took in the sight of Seungkwan, head in Hansol’s lap and nose pressed against his thigh._ _

__“Y’know, you’re pretty comfy. I’ve always thought you would be. Y’always look so warm.. ‘n soft..” Seungkwan’s lips brushed against Hansol’s thigh as he spoke and the dog hybrid felt himself tense._ _

__“Always?”_ _

__Seungkwan hummed, “I look at you a lot. But shh! Don’t tell, um, you.”_ _

___Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ._ _ _

__“Um, okay. I won’t tell… me.”_ _

__“Thanks.” Seungkwan grinned up at Hansol, reaching a hand up to brush over the apples of the hybrid’s cheek._ _

__Hansol felt whatever alcohol was thrumming through his veins blur his thoughts, telling him to _just kiss the life out of the boy already_._ _

__He didn’t, though._ _

__“Um, do you want to go somewhere else? It doesn’t look comfortable there.” Hansol gestured to the drying puddle of booze still sopping into their clothes, and the awkward position that Seungkwan was in, his legs twisted around each other slightly as one of his arms was wrapped backwards around Hansol’s back._ _

__Seungkwan giggled airily, “Take me out to dinner first!”_ _

__“No! No, I didn’t mean it like that,” Hansol’s cheeks burned a bright red, heating up under Seungkwan’s light touch, “I just meant that um, I don’t really think you should be roaming around anymore. I don’t think you can walk.”_ _

__“No no no! I can, I can, see? Watch,” Seungkwan stumbled to his feet, bracing himself on the counter behind Hansol for balance and grinning lazily down at the dog hybrid, “ ‘M up.”_ _

__Hansol awkwardly shimmied out from under Seungkwan, offering an arm when it looked as though Seungkwan was going to collapse._ _

__Hansol had almost no warning before Seungkwan had leapt onto his back, head coming to rest on Hansol’s shoulder as his legs wrapped around the dog hybrid’s waist. Hansol grunted, barely able to hoist Seungkwan higher on his back without dropping him._ _

__“Onward!’ Seungkwan giggled, pointing a finger towards the darkened hallway. Hansol started forwards, crouching down while going through the hallway so that Seungkwan didn’t bump his head on the ceiling. Seungkwan took to lightly tugging on Hansol’s floppy ears, but it wasn’t painful, so the dog hybrid let it happen._ _

__Finally they found a room that had an open door, and no naked couples inside, and Hansol tried to dump Seungkwan on the bed as elegantly as possible, but one of the man’s hands ended up hitting the headboard as he fell._ _

__“Ow! Ow,” Seungkwan screeched, brandishing his hand towards Hansol, “Look! Is it bleeding?!”_ _

__“No, it’s not bleeding, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Hurting the person he’d been severely crushing on for half a year really wasn’t what Hansol had planned for that night, but neither was getting kissed by the man either, and that had already happened._ _

__“Kiss it better,” Seungkwan whined, waving the injured finger back and forth until Hansol reached up to catch it. The dog hybrid took a deep breath, slightly intimidated by the way that Seungkwan made eye contact with him as he pressed a soft kiss to the slightly red finger._ _

__Seungkwan smiled, cheeks either flushed from embarrassment or booze, “It didn’t even hurt.”_ _

__Hansol finally got over whatever unseen force was making him so awfully nervous, laughing softly as Seungkwan wriggled around on the bed, trying to get comfortable without getting underneath the covers._ _

__“C’mere! You’re warm, I need you.”_ _

__Hansol would sell his soul to hear those words from that person for the rest of his life._ _

__He slowly stepped over to the side of the bed, unlacing his sneakers and tossing them across the room. He barely had time to sit down properly before Seungkwan was straddling his hips, bumping noses with Hansol and giggling, reeking of alcohol._ _

Hansol figured that it was natural to be nervous now, when the man who’d captivated him for half of a year was currently in his lap _and_ in his face. 

__Seungkwan let his hands rest flat against Hansol’s stomach, a chill wracking through the dog hybrid’s body at the contact. Seungkwan seemed to notice this, digging his fingers slightly into the soft skin of Hansol’s exposed tummy and grazing his nails over as much surface area as he could. Hansol gasped, hands shooting to shove defensively at Seungkwan’s, who just giggled and leaned in to initiate another kiss. This one was less sloppy than the first had been, but it was still very apparent that Seungkwan had had ten times more than he should have to drink that night._ _

Hansol finally let himself have that moment, gripping Seungkwan’s hips as his eyes fluttered shut. Seungkwan used the kiss as a distraction to continue running his fingers over Hansol’s tummy but honestly Hansol didn’t care in the slightest, all he knew was that _the_ Boo Seungkwan was in his lap, kissing him. 

__Hansol had actually never come out of a kiss dizzy, but the moment Seungkwan finally pulled away he felt as though he was about to pass out. He chased after Seungkwan, grabbing the man by the back of the neck and tugging him into another kiss. Seungkwan finally relented, leaving Hansol’s poor ticklish tummy alone and moving to tug on the hybrid’s dog ears, dipping his head further and further downwards until his forehead was pressed against Hansol’s._ _

__Seungkwan was definitely vocal if nothing else, soft, quiet whines and whimpers coming from between his lips, and Hansol found that it was just as satisfying to swallow them as it was to cause them. It was only when he felt hands tugging at the zipper of his jeans that his eyes flew open, his own hands coming to grip Seungkwan’s wrists._ _

__He shook his head, floundering for something to say but Seungkwan was already moving on, attempting to lift his own shirt over his head. He was having quite a bit of trouble with the arm holes, and Hansol took the opportunity to wrestle the man’s arms to his sides._ _

__“Not now. You’re drunk.”_ _

__“But-”_ _

__“No, we can’t. Please don’t fight me on this,”_ _

__“But I want it.” Seungkwan looked as if he were on the verge of tears and Hansol was quick to dab them away with the sleeve of his sweatshirt._ _

“You want it _now_. You might not tomorrow. I don’t want you to regret anything. Please…” Hansol was not about to ruin what may have been his only chance with Seungkwan by taking advantage of the man while he was drunk. 

__“But I will want it! Even tomorrow, Hansol, please,” A shiver ran down the dog hybrid’s spine at the sound of his name tumbling from Seungkwan’s lips but he shook his head anyways._ _

__“You don’t know that. Please, please just listen to me.”_ _

__“I know I’ll want it when I’m sober.” A tear streaked down Seungkwan’s cheek and Hansol rushed to clean it up, “I’ve been looking at you for months. The only reason I go to these stupid parties is to see you. It’s definitely what I want, I made that decision a long time ago.”_ _

__“I… I’m sorry. I can’t do that to you. Even if you’d be fine with it in the morning, it’s,” Hansol paused, trying to address the growing sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, “It’s not right.”_ _

__“But this is my only chance,” Seungkwan sobbed, letting himself face plant into Hansol’s chest._ _

__“What are you talking about?”_ _

__“You’re not gonna do this in the morning. I know you’re just being nice, because I can’t take care of myself. Please, I just want to get what I can get while I can get it.”_ _

__“Of course I’ll still do this in the morning. Listen,” Hansol’s cheeks flared even though they’d been indirectly addressing it the entire time, “If you still want to have sex with me in the morning, when you’re sober, we can. I’m just not doing it while you’re drunk.”_ _

__“Promise?” Seungkwan sniffled, holding up his pinky._ _

__“Promise.” Hansol grinned, heart absolutely exploding as Seungkwan tearily thanked him, then promptly fell asleep on his chest. He fished his phone out of his pocket, by some miracle it was still there, though it was coated in a thin layer of sticky half-dried booze, opening Mingyu’s contact and tying a short message._ _

_‘You gotta walk home tonight, I’m a bit preoccupied. Hope you don’t puke your guts out xx’_


	4. Worth It (Little!96 Line)(Caretaker!95 Line)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Requested: Can you write about little 96 line? Maybe them having a day off being little together? (Bonus points if 95 line are the caregivers!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Sorry for the delay on this chapter, I've literally been buried in schoolwork and I've barely found my way out. Hopefully things go faster after this! Requests are always open, feel free to send one in! <3  
> This chapter must be read with babyspace jihoon in a lil onesie with a pacifier in mind please thank u (his giggles made me cRy when I was writing it omg :((( )

The only person allowed to wake Jeonghan up was Jihoon, for multiple reasons.

He is scary  
He is baby

The above statements may seem conflicting. They are not. Jihoon somehow managed to be baby while scaring the absolute hell out of everyone. It was a talent. 

—

Jeonghan sleepily blinked his eyes open, hair spilling into his eyes and nose slightly stuffy from sleep. He registered a weight on his chest, then remembered the night before, when Jihoon had crawled into his bed crying about a nightmare that he’d had. A quick change into a onesie, a bottle, and a pacifier later, and Jihoon was fast asleep, nose still a little rosy from crying but overall okay.

Jeonghan smiled, brushing Jihoon’s hair off of his forehead and reaching for his phone on the nightstand. He barely had a moment to glance at the screen before his door opened, slamming loudly against the wall and making Jihoon stir in his sleep, hands tangling in Jeonghan’s shirt as he fell back to sleep.

Jeonghan was ready to swear at whoever had opened the door before he saw that it was Soonyoung, stuffed tiger in hand as he rushed forwards, hopping onto the bed and landing beside Jeonghan, grinning down at the man.

“Hannie!” Soonyoung cheered, wriggling his way under the arm that Jeonghan lifted for him. The man quickly used that hand to cover Soonyoung’s mouth, pointing at Jihoon who whined softly in his slumber. Jeonghan held his breath as he waited for Jihoon to go back to sleep, but then the little’s eyes were fluttering open and narrowing at Soonyoung.

“Sorry! Sorry Hannie.” Soonyoung’s eyes widened and he reached out to pat (slap) Jihoon on the head, “G’back to sleep Jiji.”

Jihoon’s eyes widened slightly at the nickname as he reached for the small, slightly smooshed black cat stuffie that was tucked under his arm, also named Jiji.

Jeonghan feigned shock, “Are you Jiji? Are you a kitty? What happened to my Jihoonie, hm?”

Jihoon giggled, smile appearing behind his pacifier and practically lighting up the dim room. 

“Hannie!” Soonyoung whined, wriggling around to reach for Jeonghan’s face and turn it towards him, “Me too~”

Ah, of course, how could Jeonghan deprive Soonyoung of attention for all of three seconds?! What a terrible caregiver.

“Soonyoung-” Jeonghan’s words came out a little muffled, as the little gripped his face, squishing his cheeks. Soonyoung seemed to take great pride in making Jeonghan as uncomfortable as possible, one of the little’s elbows digging into the man’s side as he peered down at him from above, “-Do you want some breakfast?”

“Mhm! Pancakes.” Soonyoung grinned, definitely not remembering how long it took to make pancakes, especially when Mingyu was still asleep.

“Okay,” Jeonghan sighed, shifting to prop himself up on his elbows. Jihoon whined behind his pacifier, clumsily scrambling to push Jeonghan back down onto his pillows.

Jeonghan chuckled, “It’s time for breakfast, we can sleep later baby.”

Jihoon’s eyes glazed over with tears that threatened to spill down his rosy cheeks, but Jeonghan was well aware of these manipulation tactics, simply scooping Jihoon up and letting the little rest his head on Jeonghan’s shoulder. Jeonghan led Soonyoung to the door, nearly stepping out into the hallway when he felt something light hit his foot, and heard a cry from Jihoon right beside his ear. He quickly turned to the little fussing in his arms, “What’s wrong?”

Jihoon was pointing frantically to the cat plushie still lying on the bed, pacifier long since having fallen from between his lips, “Jiji! Jiji!” 

Soonyoung rushed to scoop up the stuffed animal, presenting it happily to Jihoon alongside his pacifier, which Jeonghan _really_ hoped was still clean.

Jihoon managed a small, “T’ank you,” before the pacifier was back in his mouth and his chin was plopping back onto Jeonghan’s shoulder, fingers wrapped tight around one of the stuffed animal’s legs as they made their way out to the living room.

It couldn’t have been later than six in the morning, so no one should have been up yet, but to Jeonghan’s surprise, Wonwoo was curled up on the couch, a sippy cup clutched in his hands as he stared intently at the cartoons playing on the television.

Jeonghan smiled softly, sneaking up behind Wonwoo and surprising the little with a kiss on the cheek. Wonwoo’s eyes widened and he turned quickly, relaxing when he realized who it was. 

“Hi Wonu. Did you sleep good?”

“Mhm.” Wonwoo nodded, half distracted by whatever was playing on the tv.

“Can I leave Jihoon with you?”

Wonwoo nodded, arms held out so that Jeonghan could gently set the baby in his lap. Jihoon settled back into Wonwoo’s chest like nothing happened, pacifier bobbing slightly in front of his lips and hands coming to curl around Jiji against his chest.

Jeonghan waited for Soonyoung to get settled on the couch before pressing a kiss to the side of his head, then ducking into the kitchen. Seungcheol was standing by the stove, a bowl of raw batter sitting on the counter with a puddle of pale yellow goo already forming on the counter as it streamed down the sides of the container. Jeonghan rolled his eyes, though a fond smile crept onto his face as he did so.

He grabbed a paper towel, wiping up the batter on the counter and bumping shoulders with Seungcheol. The man jolted, whirling around and laughing sheepishly when he saw who it was.

“Jesus. You scared me, I thought Wonwoo made it in here. You know I don’t like them around the stove.”

“Sorry,” Jeonghan smiled, “Makin’ pancakes?”

“Mhm. Wonwoo wanted some.”

“Soonyoung asked too.”

“God, do they know how much work this takes?”

Jeonghan chuckled, pointing at the pancake in the pan that was ready to be flipped. Seungcheol added it to a plate that already had a few on it, stashing them under a paper towel to preserve as much warmth as possible.

“Jihoon too?”

“He can split with me,” Jeonghan knew full well that Jihoon would not be happy eating something different from everyone else, but also that he wouldn’t be very hungry this early, having just had a bottle a few hours ago. He also wasn’t that hungry himself, it was too early for that and he could just have a big lunch later.

Seungcheol hummed in acknowledgement before turning back to the pan, pouring a new circle of batter and once again dripping some onto the counter. Jeonghan placed a towel underneath the bowl, keeping any future spills from drying on the counter.

Jeonghan scrolled idly through his phone, checking notifications that he’d missed overnight and deliberately not replying to about three people asking him for stupid favors. He would _not_ be bringing Seungkwan breakfast in bed and he would _not_ be driving Mingyu around town the entire day and he would _not_ be buying Chan lunch because the youngest had already spent money on food that week. (He would definitely be buying Chan lunch.)

Jeonghan was too immersed in his phone to realize that someone else had entered the kitchen, not noticing it until he felt a soft tug on the leg of his sweatpants. He jumped slightly, peering down to see Jun grinning happily up at him from the floor. Jeonghan cooed, crouching down to try to tame Jun’s bedhead, though it didn’t work very well. 

“Hi baby! Did you get here all by yourself?”

Jun simply smiled up at Jeonghan, stumbling to his knees and sliding forwards on the kitchen floor until he was buried in Jeonghan’s chest. 

Jeonghan resisted the urge to squeal, wrapping Junhui in a tight hug. He remembered Seungcheol’s earlier sentiment, lifting the little into his arms and moving to cart him out to the living room. 

“Hey! Wait,” Seungcheol set his spatula on the counter, padding across the kitchen to cup Jun’s cheeks in his hands, pressing a kiss to the baby’s forehead. Jun squealed, scrunching his nose slightly in surprise and clapping over Jeonghan’s shoulder. Seungcheol cooed, reluctantly making his way back over to the stove to continue making breakfast.

Jeonghan caught the way that Jun’s eyes practically shone as he saw a bottle drying out on the counter, turning back into the kitchen and pointing at the cup.

“Do y’wanna baba?”

Jun merely pointed at the bottle, looking at Jeonghan with wide eyes.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Jeonghan giggled, hoisting Jun higher on his hip as he attempted to make a bottle using only one hand. It didn’t work very well, but it worked nonetheless. 

Finally, the two were seated comfortably on the couch, Jun draped sideways over Jeonghan’s lap. Jeonghan had just barely given Jun his bottle before Soonyoung was kneeling excitedly over him, peering down at Junhui.

“Can I do it?!”

“You wanna feed the baby?”

“Yeah!” Soonyoung grinned, already reaching eagerly for Jun. Jeonghan laughed, helping haul the little from his own lap into Soonyoung’s. Jun whined softly at the change in positions but was ultimately very happy to be in Soonyoung’s lap, cooing and resting his head against the older little’s chest while he drank his bottle. 

Jeonghan resisted the urge to squeal in adoration, taking a few pictures and sending them out to his group chat with Seungcheol and Jisoo. 

He hardly had to wait two minutes before footsteps sounded down the hallway, and Jisoo was rounding the corner into the living room. The man was clearly still half asleep, but he slid onto the couch beside Jeonghan as though he’d been awake for hours.

“Y’need help?”

Jeonghan was about to remind Jisoo that they _always_ needed help, especially when all of their littles had slipped at once, but Jihoon, upon hearing Jisoo’s voice, sat up as straight as he could, reaching out for the man and whining from behind his pacifier. 

Jisoo cooed, gladly scooping up the baby from Wownoo’s lap and grinning when Jihoon burrowed into his shoulder. He slid back into his spot beside Jeonghan, letting Jihoon face-plant into his chest and grip his shirt in tight fists. Jeonghan ran a finger over the stripe of Jihoon’s cheek that was visible, leaning in and kissing the baby’s nose when he turned to peek at Jeonghan curiously. Jihoon’s pacifier wasn’t enough to hide the baby’s sleepy grin as his eyes fluttered shut once more, head lulling against Jisoo’s chest. 

Wonwoo, though he had barely even noticed Jihoon being set in his lap, definitely noticed when the baby wasn’t there anymore, brows furrowing and lips scrunching into a pout. He stumbled to his feet, squeezing through the gap between everyone’s feet and the coffee table until he was standing in front of Jeonghan, eyes holding a silent question that there was only one acceptable answer to. 

Jeonghan held his arms open, a nonverbal invitation that Wonwoo took gladly. The little barely fit in Jeonghan’s lap but neither of them cared. Jeonghan helped Wonwoo fold his legs underneath him as best he could so that he wouldn’t fall off of the couch, running a hand through the little’s bedhead. 

Wonwoo was nearly asleep when Seungcheol was finally finished with breakfast, having had to go back and make one extra for Jisoo. Jeonghan patted the sleepy little’s cheeks, helping him to his feet and leading him over to the table. Jisoo helped Jihoon into the high chair that was already sitting in the corner of the room, and Seungcheol was left with Jun balanced on his lap until Jeonghan found the second chair that was most likely buried in the closet. Jun eagerly reached for pancakes but Seungcheol gently tugged the baby’s hands away, handing him a toy to play with instead. 

Jisoo helped cut up pancakes for Soonyoung and Wonwoo, leaving one on the plate at Jeonghan’s place so that he could cut it and give however much he wanted to Jihoon. It didn’t take Jeonghan too long to find the second high chair, and Jun was quickly strapped in and served his breakfast. With how messy the syrup was, they’d probably have to give them all baths later. 

Soonyoung and Wonwoo were definitely more skilled in the fine-motor area than the babies, but they ate as all toddlers do, and the table definitely needed wiping down after they were done. Jihoon was careful with his food, the caretakers had noticed that he didn’t like getting his clothes wet or dirty, but Jun was either too little or too nonchalant about it, and Seungcheol ended up having to feed him instead. He hummed happily with each bite, syrup covered hands slapping excitedly on the tray of his high chair. 

Soonyoung was the first to finish, syrup dripping down his chin slightly as he pushed his plate proudly away, “I win!”

Wonwoo huffed, glumly shoveling the last bite of pancake that was on his plate into his mouth. Seungcheol congratulated Soonyoung on his success and Jisoo took it upon himself to whisper in Wonwoo’s ear that Soonyoung made a bigger mess than him, so it was even. That seemed to satisfy the little, if the soft grin that graced his features was anything to judge by. 

“What did you tell him?!” Soonyoung’s eyes were wide and full of betrayal, no one was allowed to whisper and not fill him in on it!

“I told him to eat faster next time.” Jisoo lied, picking up a napkin and wiping the sticky syrup off of Soonyoung’s chin, holding the little’s face in place when Soonyoung tried escaping.

“Okay, you two,” Seungcheol pointed at Soonyoung and Wonwoo, waiting for Jun to finish his bite of pancake in the meantime, “need baths, who’s going first?”

“He finished first, he can go first.” Wonwoo pointed at Soonyoung who’s mouth fell open in yet another display of betrayal.

“Hey! No fair, he lost, so he should have to go first!”

“But-”

“Okay, nevermind! Soonyoung, why don’t you come with me, we’ll start with you.” Jisoo grabbed the little’s hand but Soonyoung tried tugging it away from the man.

“No! No, I don’t wanna! Please do Wonu first instead!” Soonyoung whined, over accentuating the pout on his lips.

“Nope. You’re the messiest.” Jisoo pinched Soonyoung’s cheek that was still smeared sticky with syrup, ignoring the protests that he got from the little and leading him to the bathroom that was adjoined with his own room. 

Wonwoo sat down again with a small, satisfied smile, legs bouncing against the chair as he kicked them up and down. Jun reached for him with a sticky hand and Wonwoo grimaced, scooting closer but just out of reach of the baby. Seungcheol snorted, quickly wiping the baby’s hands down and unhooking him from the highchair so that he could roam as he pleased. Wonwoo was quickly appointed as the temporary babysitter, letting Jun hold his hand and toddle around the room as best he could. They ended up coloring at the table in front of the couch, Wonwoo being very careful not to let Junhui eat the crayons that he was coloring with. 

Seungcheol tackled the dishes while Jeonghan got Jihoon out of the high chair, bringing the baby to sit at the table with the other two littles. Jeonghan helped Jihoon use markers, knowing full well that it would be _very_ hard to clean up if he were to just let Jihoon have at it by himself. 

Soonyoung emerged from the bathroom barely a half an hour later with wet hair and a clean face. He was very insistent upon replacing Wonwoo’s position while the other little had his bath, helping Jun plop into his lap and resume coloring. Finally Seungcheol finished the mountain of dishes that they’d made, sighing exaggeratedly and slumping onto the couch, stretching out across the cushions. 

The noise broke Jihoon out of the trance that he’d been in while coloring, as his eyes flitted up to stare at the eldest caregiver. The baby hummed from behind the pacifier that had made its way back into his mouth after eating, leaning forwards to climb out of Jeonghan’s lap and shuffle his way over to Seungcheol. 

Jihoon raised a slightly shaky hand, poking Seungcheol’s nose with a single finger. The caregiver’s eyes fluttered open and a lazy grin spread across his face, a sight that made Jihoon giggle softly. 

“You got me,” Seungcheol cooed, surging forwards to kiss Jihoon’s nose, “Wanna come lay with me?”

Jihoon nodded eagerly, clamoring onto the couch and draping himself across Seungcheol’s chest. The little’s eyes were shut in an instant, and his pacifier bobbed slightly between his lips as he tried drifting back to sleep.

At some point in time, Jihoon’s arms wound around Seungcheol’s waist, trapping the man underneath him as he clung to him like a koala. Jeonghan felt oddly lonely without the little in his lap, but it wasn’t long after that Jisoo was carting Wonwoo out from the bathroom, unceremoniously dumping the little into Jeonghan’s lap.

Wonwoo squealed, righting himself as quickly as possible and backing into Jeonghan’s chest, “He’s gonna get me!”

Jisoo crept forwards with a teasing glare on his face, hands outstretched ready to tickle the little. Jeonghan gasped, wrapping his arms around Wonwoo and shielding him as best he could from the youngest caretaker, “Oh no! I’ll save you!”

Needless to say, Jeonghan quickly turned on Wonwoo, helping Jisoo in reducing the little to a mess of giggles and grins. Finally the two tickle monsters granted mercy to the little, leaning in to kiss his cheeks one last time before helping him sit up straight again. Wonwoo joined the others in coloring, letting out residual giggles from time to time as he glanced back at the two caregivers to make sure that they weren’t coming to get him. It was barely eight in the morning, and Jeonghan sighed as he realized that their time alone with the four little would most likely be coming to an end soon. Of course it was fun seeing the other members get to interact with the littles too, but it was always special having them all to themselves every once in a while.

Seungcheol and Jihoon were completely passed out on the couch, and Wonwoo, Soonyoung, and Junhui were still coloring happily. Jisoo came to sit with Jeonghan on the floor, sighing as he let his head fall onto the elder’s shoulder. Being caretakers for four littles at once was absolutely _exhausting_ , but it was always worth it.


	5. Ice Cream and Sweet Dreams (Little!HHU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Requested: Hiiiii first i hope you're having a great dayyyy <3 second can you write some ot4 hip hop unit little space with the rest of svt being soft caregivers (bonus points if little cheol is the baby hehe) thanks so much !!  
> Tysm for requesting, I really hope you like this one, I loved writing it-  
> Baby Cheollie :(  
> Requests are always open, feel free to send one in! Thank you for reading <3

“-nie. Kwannie! Kwannie, wake up!”

Seungkwan groaned, hands coming to push away the light jabs at his shoulders. He rolled over, burying his face in his pillow and hoping that whoever was trying to wake him up would go away. 

“Kwannie! Kwannie, _please_ , help me!” Seungkwan’s brain finally turned on, registering that that was Hansol’s voice, and it was very strained and panicked. His eyes shot open as he rolled over, chest heaving slightly with adrenaline.

“What? What is it, what’s wrong?”

“ ‘S Cheollie,” Hansol rubbed at his eyes, smearing tears across his cheeks as he did so, “He’s cryin’ ‘cause he wants t’get out of the crib but he’s too heavy and I can’t get him. I don’t know what t’do, please help me Kwannie.”

Seungkwan was already halfway up and down the hallway before Hansol could finish, gripping the little’s hand in his own. He saw light spilling from a room down the hallway, and as he got closer and closer he could hear Seungcheol crying.

Hansol clung tight to Seungkwan’s hand until they were both standing by Seungcheol’s crib, and then the little’s hands went to grip Seungcheol’s blotchy, tear stained cheeks, “Cheollie, Cheollie, ‘s okay, _please_ don’t cry, ‘s okay.”

Seungkwan cooed, gently tugging Hansol’s hands off of the baby’s cheeks and wrapping his arms around the little’s back, hands sliding under his butt for support as he hoisted Seungcheol out of the crib. The baby _was_ heavy, but Seungkwan usually had to carry one of the littles anyways, so it wasn’t too much of a strain. 

Seungcheol clung tight to Seungkwan’s shirt, burying his face in the man’s neck as he wailed. It was a miracle that no one else had woken up, well, maybe less than a miracle as now Seungkwan had to handle this himself. 

Seungkwan sat himself on Seungcheol’s bed, the one that he used when he wasn’t in littlespace, sitting back against the headboard and letting Seungcheol slump forwards against his chest. Though Seungkwan’s hands brushed lightly over the baby’s back and through his hair, Seungcheol continued to cry, nose stuffy and rosy as tears flowed in rivers down his cheeks.

“This isn’t working,” Seungkwan sighed, looking around the room and seeing Seungcheol’s pacifier, a baby blue plastic piece with a dog on the front, a thin ribbon connecting it to a small stuffed dog’s head that branched out into a soft blanket. 

“Hansollie, sweetheart, can you hand that to me?”

Hansol sniffled, nodding and hurriedly passing the pacifier to Seungkwan. Seungkwan held it in front of Seungcheol’s lips but the little pushed it away, lifting his head from the man’s chest for the first time since he started crying.

“Nini, Nini, _p’ease_ Nini,” Seungcheol sobbed, messy black curls falling in front of his eyes.

“He wants Hannie! I can go get him!” Hansol shot to his feet, already probably in Jeonghan’s room before Seungkwan could thank him properly. The man just kept running a comforting hand over Seungcheol’s back, and another through his hair as they waited.

While Jeonghan was a hard person to wake up, and an even harder person to get out of bed, the news that his baby was up and fussy got him out of bed in record time. Jeonghan’s hair was also spilling into his eyes, he and his baby were matching as he quickly took Seungcheol from Seungkwan and held him tightly to his chest, letting the baby’s waist balance on his hip.

“Cheollie,” Jeonghan cooed, taking the pacifier from Seungkwan and trying to pop it into the baby’s mouth, “Cheollie, it’s okay, it’s okay baby, no tears, it’s okay.”

Seungcheol once again turned his head away from the blue pacifier, pushing it away vehemently as sobs continued flowing from his lips, “Uji! Ujiji, Uji!”

“Uji? You want Jihoonie, honey? Woozi?” Seungcheol, even as a baby, usually left Jihoon alone while he was sleeping, no matter how much he wanted the man’s attention, so it was odd that he’d demand to see the man now.

“No! No, Uji! Ujiji! Shuji! Uji!”

As heartbreaking as it was to see his baby cry, a soft smile broke out over Jeonghan’s lips as he realized who Seungcheol was asking for. It was always adorable seeing what he could and couldn’t pronounce.

“Okay, okay, let’s go get Shuji, hmm? Come on,” Jeonghan stepped towards the door, finally succeeding in pushing the pacifier into Seungcheol’s mouth so that the little stopped crying. Jeonghan thanked Seungkwan and Hansol before they left for Jisoo’s room, bending down so that Hansol could kiss Seungcheol’s forehead.

Seungkwan sighed when the two were out of sight, eyes heavy and longing to fall shut again. Hansol crossed the room, coming to stand beside the bed as he wiped his runny nose on his sleeve (much to Seungkwan’s dismay).

“Can I sleep with you tonight?”

“ ‘Course baby, let’s go.” 

Seungkwan let Hansol tug him down the hallway back to his own room, a content smile breaking out over his face as he buried himself under the covers again, glad to find that they were still warm. Hansol quickly followed after the man, curling up against his side and letting his eyes flutter shut, slightly red and swollen from crying. 

Seungkwan held back a coo, not wanting to disturb the little, and pressed one last kiss to Hansol’s forehead before slipping off to sleep himself, “Sweet dreams, baby.”

\--

Though Seungcheol wasn’t _sobbing_ anymore, tears still slid down his cheeks and every so often a hiccup would escape from behind his pacifier. Jeonghan brushed the baby’s hair off of his forehead, kissing his red nose and turning Jisoo’s doorhandle, pushing it open as he fumbled around for the lightswitch.

Jeonghan found it in no time, flicking it on and flooding the room in white light. Jisoo flinched in his sleep, face scrunching and hands coming to shield his face. Jeonghan reached down to hook a finger under the covers that just barely draped over Jisoo’s feet, yanking them back and off of the bed. Jisoo groaned, curling in on himself with a hand still draped over his eyes as he desperately tried getting warm again, still clinging onto the last bit of sleep that he could.

“Oh for god’s sake, here baby, go get’im.” Jeonghan peeled Seungcheol’s hands off of where they were twisted in his shirt, setting the baby down on the bed.

Seungcheol made it over to Jisoo in no time, fingers tugging at the hand over the man’s eyes as he babbled to the sleeping man. At one point his pacifier fell out of his mouth but Seungcheol didn’t seem to mind, finally succeeding in getting Jisoo’s hand off of his face and poking at his cheeks.

“Uji, Ji, Ujiji, Ujiji!” Seungcheol hovered mere inches over Jisoo’s face, hiccupping once more as the man finally started to give up sleeping. Jisoo’s eyes fluttered open and then widened as he realized what was going on, a hand coming up to cup the baby’s cheek.

“Hi baby.” Jisoo mumbled, squeezing Seungcheol’s cheek lightly and realizing that there were tears still drying on the skin, “What’s wrong?”

“We dunno.” Jeonghan stepped into view, snorting when Jisoo jumped in surprise. Jeonghan perched on the end of Jisoo’s bed, “Sollie woke me up n’said he was crying. Seungkwan was there too, I think he woke Seungkwan up first.”

Jisoo hummed, pushing Seungcheol back slightly so that he could sit up in bed, bracing himself against the headboard before ushering the baby into his lap. Seungcheol curled himself up against Jisoo’s chest, head tucked under the man’s chin and eyes turned towards Jeonghan. The little reached a single hand out, making grabby hands for the other caretaker who simply smiled, scooting forwards so that his side was pressed to Jisoo’s own and kissing the baby’s forehead. 

Seungcheol seemed content for a moment but then he pointed at the blanket that was just barely hanging off of the end of the bed, while simultaneously realizing that his pacifier was no longer in his mouth. He spotted it in Jeonghan’s back pocket when the man reached for the blanket, tugging the soft puppy blanket out of Jeonghan’s pajama pants pocket and popping the rubber into his mouth. Jisoo smiled softly, helping Jeonghan slide the blanket around one of each of their shoulders, consequently draping it over Seungcheol who laid back against their chests, one leg in each of their laps.

It only took a few minutes of running a relaxing hand through the baby’s curls (and a soft lullaby sung at barely over a whisper) to put Seungcheol to sleep, and by that time both caretakers were too exhausted to move from their positions. They each fell asleep slumped back against the headboard, an arm around the baby between them.

\--

“Wonu… Wonu, wake up! Wonu~” Mingyu shook the other little’s shoulders, a mischievous grin on his face as he sat in the dark bedroom.

Wonwoo groaned, burrowing his face deeper in his pillows and trying to evade Mingyu’s teasing, “Go’way Gyu.”

“Wonu! Wonu, come on, let’s go play!”

“No~, ‘wanna sleep.”

“You’re boring.:Mingyu huffed, finally giving up on trying to rouse Wonwoo awake and flopping down to lay on top of him instead. Wonwoo whined indignantly in his half-asleep state, blearily peeking up at Mingyu.

“No ‘m not.”

“You are too.”

“No I’m not!”

“Are too.”

“I’m not!” Wonwoo’s voice was rising steadily and getting shaky as he got upset. Mingyu seemed to register the change in tone of the other little, eyes widening slightly as he wriggled himself further up towards the headboard of the bed.

“Sorry! Sorry Wonu, ‘didn’t mean it.” Mingyu squished Wonwoo’s cheeks, an anxious look in his eyes as he tried gauging Wonwoo’s reaction.

“Don’t say mean things t’me. I don’ like it.” Wonwoo’s voice was officially at the pitch that meant that tears were about to come streaming down his cheeks, and that was the _last_ thing Mingyu wanted to do.

“I’m sorry! ‘M sorry Wonu,” Mingyu leaned down to kiss Wonwoo’s forehead, hoping that it might somehow deter the tears that had glazed over Wonwoo’s eyes from leaking down his cheeks, “ ‘M sorry for bein’ mean. I won’t do it again, I promise! ‘N i didn’t mean it.”

“Then why did you say it?” Wonwoo’s voice was less high-pitched now, but he was still staring warily at Mingyu.

“I dunno!”

Wonwoo sniffled, though the tears that glossed over his eyes receded. Mingyu took that as a good sign, releasing his grip on the little’s cheeks and laying his head back down onto Wonwoo’s chest, though a thick duvet laid between them.

A few moments of silence passed, in which Wonwoo dozed off again, eyes slipping shut once more.

Then, “Wonu?”

Wonwoo whined in frustration, once again cracking his eyes open a tiny bit to peek at Mingyu, “What?”

“Will you read me a story?”

Wonwoo’s eyes blinked open in piqued curiosity; he _did_ like stories, and he supposed that reading one would be the same as hearing it. He nodded, pushing and shoving at Mingyu until the man was off of him, then standing and stumbling his way through the dim room towards the bookshelf. Wonwoo had a small nightlight plugged in by his bed, with a little ginger cat on it, so the warm light that barely brushed against the furthest corners of the room was bathed in a deep orange hue. 

Wonwoo found Mingyu’s favorite story in no time, one about a puppy that got lost in the park, but eventually reunited happily with his owner. He crawled back into the bed, barely awake enough to protest when Mingyu wriggled into his lap. The other little was heavy, but it was okay.

He vaguely registered that Mingyu’s thumb had somehow made its way into his mouth, and they both knew that that wasn’t allowed, but Wonwoo didn’t have the energy to fight the other little on it, so he just ignored it instead. He read the story as quietly as he could, because if anyone heard them, they’d both get in trouble for being up so late- er, early.

Mingyu was fast asleep before Wonwoo even got halfway through the story, and a small, proud smile flitted onto Wonwoo’s face as he tucked Mingyu gently back into his bed. It was a little bit of a tight squeeze, the both of them in the bed side-by-side, but it was okay because Mingyu quickly made his way over to wriggle under Wonwoo’s arm and burrow into his chest. Wonwoo finally got to go back to sleep, hoping that tomorrow they could go to the park together, so that Mingyu would actually be sleepy when it was time for them to go to bed. 

\--

Unsurprisingly, Seungcheol was the first to wake up in the morning, feeling pleasantly warm under their pile of blankets. He blinked sleepily, snuggling his face further into the little blanket attached to his pacifier and trying to go back to sleep. He felt someone’s hand in his, and he looked up to see that Jeonghan was sleeping soundly beside him, head resting on the baby’s shoulder. Seungcheol cooed, raising a hand to poke at Jeonghan’s cheek. 

After a few soft jabs, Jeonghan’s eyes fluttered open, lighting up when he saw the scene in front of him. Seungcheol hummed, pacifier in his mouth prohibiting him from vocalizing any more than that as he reached eagerly for Jeonghan. 

Together they helped the baby wriggle out of Jisoo’s lap, and Jeonghan happily cradled his baby, pressing kisses to his cheeks when Seungcheol turned them expectantly towards him. 

Next it was time for Jisoo to pay attention to Seungcheol, and the little reached a hand out to tangle in the man’s hair and tug on it sharply. Jisoo’s eyes shot open and a soft hiss of pain escaped his lips, while Jeonghan rushed to uncurl Seungcheol’s hand from the man’s hair.

“Hey, be nice! No pulling,” Jeonghan was often subject to hair-pulling too, especially when he’d let his hair grow out. It was not fun. Seungcheol’s brows furrowed at the reprimand, as the hand that had just tugged on Jisoo’s hair prodded gently at the man’s face instead. 

Jisoo sighed, only half awake as he smiled sleepily at the baby, “Morning. Was there a reason you needed to scalp me?”

Jeonghan snorted and Seungcheol definitely didn’t understand what was going on, but Jisoo was smiling and Jeonghan was laughing, so that meant that he should laugh too. He giggled sleepily, squealing when Jisoo pinched his side teasingly. 

“Are you hungry baby? Do you want some breakfast?” Jeonghan gently patted Seungcheol’s tummy, knowing that the last thing the little had eaten was a sugar cookie the night before and a bottle as he’d fallen asleep.

Seungcheol nodded eagerly, pointing to his tummy as if to demonstrate how desperately he needed nourishment. Jisoo stood, scooping the baby off of the bed and leading the way out of the bedroom and back down the hallway to the kitchen.

They nearly made it when they passed Wonwoo’s room, and Seungcheol nearly wriggled right out of Jisoo’s arms as he tried getting to the doorway. Jeonghan helped catch the squirmy baby, hoisting him back up onto Jisoo’s hip and cracking the door open.

The nightlight that was plugged into the wall illuminated the room in a soft orange glow, and it was just enough light to make out not one, but two bodies in the (rather small) bed, one practically engulfing the other. 

Jeonghan hesitantly stepped into the room, realizing that it was Mingyu that was sprawled out over Wonwoo on the bed, a thumb in his mouth and his hair sticking up in several different directions. Wonwoo looked absolutely exhausted, mouth half open and glasses still perched on his nose.

Jisoo ducked in as well, smiling softly at the scene before him. Seungcheol looked very pleased to see the two other littles, patting (smacking) Mingyu’s head lightly (not lightly at all). Jeonghan was quick to save Mingyu from Seungcheol’s good-natured attack, whispering to the baby not to hit people. Mingyu was stirring slowly, a groan pouring from his throat as he sleepily blinked open his eyes and squinted at the three standing around the bed.

Once Mingyu was able to make out who was standing in the room he hummed sleepily at them, head plopping back down onto the blanket. Jisoo laughed, readjusting the baby on his hip while Jeonghan stepped forwards, gently tugging Mingyu’s thumb out of his mouth.

“What’s this for, hm?”

“Got sleepy.” Mingyu grumbled, trying to tug his hand out of Jeonghan’s grip so that he could resume sucking his thumb. Jeonghan tutted softly, taking a spare pacifier out from a drawer in Wonwoo’s dresser and offering it to the little.

“How about this instead?”

“No~,” Mingyu whined, “Tha’s for babies.”

“Then how about some food?”

Mingyu’s eyes peeked open once more, one of the little’s eyebrows raising as he looked curiously at Jeonghan, “Breakfast?”

“Mhm. Cheollie needs some too. You wanna come?”

Mingyu nodded eagerly, pushing himself up off of Wonwoo’s chest to slide off of the bed. Fortunately, the other little stayed sound asleep, merely pulling the blanket up further over his head at the disturbance.

Mingyu held Jeonghan’s hand tightly as they made their way into the kitchen, lagging slightly behind the caretaker when they walked into the dark room. Once the light was flicked on, he was fine, skipping over to the fridge and yanking the door open. 

Mingyu was quickly set up with his favorite cereal, a bowl of blueberries and strawberries on the side. Seungcheol was balanced on Jeonghan’s lap while Jisoo spoon fed him applesauce, gently wiping away any spills with a napkin. The caretakers would eat sometime later, maybe when Seungcheol went down for a mid-morning nap or when Mingyu was in the bath. It wasn’t always easy, but what else could they do?

\--

“Don’t you _dare_.”

Minghao’s hand was _so close_ to turning the doorknob when he heard it. He froze, sighing, and turned around to see Soonyoung inching closer to him, hands outstretched.

“It’s my turn, Soonyoung.”

“No, your turn was last time.”

“ _No_ , Junhui had last time. And you had the time before that. It’s my turn.”

“Hey, you cheaters!” Jun rounded the corner, face falling as he saw the other two standing there, “It’s my turn!”

“No it’s not!” Minghao and Soonyoung spoke in unison, whirling around to face Jun who’s eyes widened slightly in shock.

“Yes it is! Because Minghao took-”

“No! It’s my turn this time, I haven’t gotten to have a turn in almost a month.” Minghao frowned, hand already reaching for the doorknob again.

“But I-”

The door creaked open and the three men heard a soft whine, “Stop yellin’.”

The three turned like deer caught in headlights, wide eyes surveying Wonwoo who was rubbing his eyes sleepily. In an instant all three men were surrounding the little, pinching at his cheeks and smoothing down his hair.

“I’m _sorry_ they were fighting,” Soonyoung cooed, attempting to tug Wonwoo out of the others’ grips and into his arms, “I just wanted to wake you up.”

“ _You_ were fighting too,” Minghao gripes, pressing a kiss to Wonwoo’s flushed cheek, “D’ya want some breakfast, or do you want to go back to sleep?”

Wonwoo frowned for a moment, assessing which was the greeter need; sleep or food. “Breakfast first. Then sleep.”

Junhui giggled, “Okay baby, come on.”

Minghao and Junhui managed to take Wonwoo’s hands before Soonyoung got a chance, and the eldest walked behind the three before him with a pout. They led a nearly incoherent Wonwoo to the kitchen, not even noticing that the others were in the dining room until they led Wonwoo into the dining room with a piece of toast.

Seungcheol was very excited to see who’d entered the room, clapping and cheering while his legs kicked relentlessly against Jeonghan’s own. Jeonghan hissed in pain, struggling to get Seungcheol to sit still again. Wonwoo was escorted over to the baby, and each of the three fighting over his attention took a moment to coo at Seungcheol. 

Wonwoo plopped down next to Mingyu, eating his toast while looking for all the world like he was dead. Mingyu cheerfully grabbed Wonwoo’s hand, now a little stunted in his ability to eat his breakfast, but it was okay. Wonwoo barely seemed to notice. 

\--

By the time that Hansol was up and all four littles had finished their breakfast, were bathed, and were dressed for the day, it was near noon. Lazy days killed their productivity, but what could they do, force three year olds to write songs? 

(They had tried once. It had ended surprisingly well, but no one else would ever hear the song that had been produced. It was something akin to what The Wiggles would have come up with.)

Seungcheol was wearing a baggy hoodie and jeans, and every so often one of the strings of the hoodie would make its way into his mouth (much to his caretakers’ chagrin). Hansol was in a soft green shirt, with overall shorts over the top of it that periodically slipped off of his shoulders as he sat at the table and colored. Somehow, Seokmin had managed to cram Mingyu and Wonwoo (lovingly), into matching sweatshirts, and the others had a feeling that it had been much easier to get Mingyu to comply than Wonwoo. 

By the time that Jihoon finally wandered out of bed (much too late to be socially acceptable), Seungcheol was napping again, his head resting snugly on Chan’s shoulder while the rest of him was tucked neatly into the man’s lap. (No one had any idea how they had managed to fit the baby into the youngest member’s lap). 

Mingyu lit up when Jihoon shuffled sleepily into the room, standing up to run over to the man in the doorway, “Hoonie!”

Jihoon was given barely a split second to react before Mingyu was running straight at him, wrapping his arms around the tiny man and squeezing him as tight as possible. Jihoon let out a strangled, indignant cry, fighting for a moment to wrestle his way out of Mingyu’s grip but then going limp and simply letting it happen. Mingyu giggled happily, keeping his arms wound around Jihoon’s waist as he shuffled the two of them over to the table. Jihoon seemed to have composed himself slightly, no longer looking as though he wanted to snap Mingyu in half.

Until the little pushed him down to sit in front of the table, climbing eagerly into his lap before he could even get settled.

“Oh god, um, Gyu,” Soonyoung snorted, “I think you’re a little too big for that.”

Mingyu huffed, “I never get to sit in anyone’s lap! I’m always too big.” 

“I’m sorry! There’s nothing we can do, why don’t you just sit _next_ to him?”

“That’s not the same!” Mingyu’s voice began to weaken, tears balancing tauntingly on the rims of his eyelids, waiting to splash down his cheeks.

Soonyoung’s eyes widened a fraction as Mingyu got upset, “It’s okay Mingyu, don’t cry!”

Jihoon couldn’t see Mingyu’s face from behind the little, but upon hearing the word ‘cry,’ he became a little less insistent in his squirming. He finally stopped altogether, sighing as he splayed his hands out behind him and leaned his head back.

“ ‘S fine. You can sit here.”

Mingyu cheered, quickly wiping away his tears and turning around to hug Jihoon. The man nearly toppled over, but saved himself and wrapped one arm around Mingyu’s back, keeping one firmly planted on the floor behind him for balance. 

Mingyu finally turned back around, getting back to his coloring page and consequently crushing Jihoon once more. Jisoo scooted across the floor, letting Jihoon brace himself back-to-back against him. 

Jihoon lasted twenty minutes, twenty minutes of non-stop squirming, shuffling, and wincing in slight pain, until he tipped his head backwards, meeting Jisoo’s eyes with a pleading look.

“Um,” Jisoo struggled to come up with something on the spot, “Do you guys want to go get ice cream?”

It was barely noon, definitely not an appropriate time to cram their tummies full of ice cream, but Jihoon looked like he was going to be flat by the time that they got Mingyu out of his lap. 

“Yes!” Wonwoo cheered, stopping for a split second after his outburst as his cheeks heated up; now all of the attention was on him. Minghao pressed a quick kiss to the little’s cheek, taking his hand and smiling adoringly at him.

“I want some too,” Hansol put down his crayons, looking excitedly up at Jisoo, “Can we all go now?”

Seungcheol had been asleep for only about an hour, but if he slept any more, he might not sleep that night. So Jisoo nodded, gently poking and prodding at the baby and cooing softly at him as his eyes fluttered open. Jihoon was finally offered some much-needed respite when Mingyu sprung up from his lap, jamming his feet into his shoes (poorly), and waiting by the door for the rest of them. 

Seungcheol was very displeased that Seokmin took his pacifier out, but there was no way that they could all go out in public together with their oldest member tagging along with a pacifier in his mouth. 

The baby began to fuss, eyes welling up with frustrated tears as he reached for the pacifier in Seokmin’s hands.

“You can’t have it, I’m sorry, just for a little bit! Just until we get home. You can have ice cream instead!”

Seokmin’s promises did nothing to appease the little, who began full-blown sobbing, hands balled up in fists in his lap and occasionally rubbing at his eyes.

Jeonghan swore softly, grabbing a mask that he was 99% (65%) sure was Seungcheol’s off of their coffee table, grabbing a pacifier with a flat plastic plate rather than a ring on the front and popping it into the baby’s mouth, slipping the mask on over it. Seungcheol’s cries were muffled as his lips were plugged, but he began to whine again as he tugged at the mask around his ears. Jeonghan tutted softly, letting Seungcheol take the mask off and then tugging the pacifier out of his mouth along with it.

“You can’t have one without the other. All or nothing, baby.”

Seungcheol sniffled, letting Jeonghan slip the mask over his face once more as long as the pacifier remained snugly between his lips.

It was rather hard to get outside without being noticed, seeing as Seungcheol demanded to be carried, and Jihoon looked rather ridiculous doing it. But somehow they managed to climb into their cars unseen, agreeing on one ice cream parlor before setting off. 

Seungcheol was helped out of the car first, draped over Junhui’s back so that it would look a little bit more natural as a piggy back ride than as him cradling his fellow member. Mingyu and Wonwoo held hands, and that was enough to ensure their caretakers that neither of them would run off and get lost, while Hansol clutched tight to Seungkwan’s hand. 

The little bell over the door dinged as they made their way into the (thankfully empty) parlor, and it made Seungcheol’s eyes widen as he stared up at it curiously. Jun went first, getting a popsicle for himself and a cup of cherry ice cream for Seungcheol. The baby probably didn’t care what flavor he got, but just in case, they didn’t want any temper tantrums.

It took much longer than it should have to order their ice creams, but finally they all finished, paid, and sat down at two large tables that they squished together. They didn’t dare take off Seungcheol’s mask and pacifier combo until the ice cream was served to them, quickly gripping the pacifier from over the mask and popping it out of the little’s mouth, shoving a spoonful of ice cream in its place. Seungcheol didn’t care.

In fact, he seemed to enjoy it, eyes lighting up as a little grin spread across his face, Soonyoung cooed, reaching across the table to pinch at the baby’s cheeks. Mingyu was happily eating his ice cream, though it looked as though more of it was spread across his shirt than it was in his tummy. Wonwoo ate in silence, though the tranquil look on his face gave away that he was not displeased with their current eating arrangements.

“ ‘S your ice cream good, Wonu?” Minghao met eyes with the little, laughing softly when he nodded eagerly. Wonwoo offered the man a bite but Minghao politely declined, thanking the little for his generosity with a wide grin on his face.

“I think Mingyu likes his,” Jeonghan grabbed a napkin, reaching over to wipe down Mingyu’s chin that had ice cream dripping down off of it and onto his shirt. Mingyu squirmed at Jeonghan’s touch, trying to wriggle out of the elder’s hold but it was no use, and he had to suffer through the brunt of the sanitization.

Hansol was the first to finish his, and while he wasn’t necessarily the cleanest, he definitely wasn’t as messy as Mingyu was. It came down to the point where everyone was waiting on Wonwoo, and Seungcheol was beginning to squirm in his seat.

“Wonu, honey,” Jisoo leaned over the table so that no one else could hear their conversation, “Can we take that home with us? Cheollie’s gonna start fussing and we can’t let it happen here. We gotta go soon, you can eat it in the car if you promise to be careful.”

Wonwoo mulled it over for a moment, ultimately nodding and letting Jisoo pop a plastic lid over the paper cup that his ice cream was slowly melting in. Mingyu quickly grabbed a hold of the little’s hand again, skipping out of the building and back to their car. 

Everyone piled into their respective cars once more and Seungcheol was finally permitted his pacifier, Jeonghan forgoing the mask in hopes that their tinted windows wouldn’t expose them to any prying eyes. Wonwoo resumed eating his ice cream in the car, but before long, his head was slumped onto Chan’s shoulder who sat beside him, eyes fluttering shut as they drove.

“God, this always happens, why do we think it’s gonna end up differently every time?” Chan chuckled, sliding an arm around Wonwoo’s waist and letting the little’s head slump further onto his shoulder. Chan quickly sealed up the ice cream again, passing it to Seokmin who set it in the center console so that it wouldn’t tip over or get lost and be forgotten about (there were at least two cups of ice cream outstanding in their car because of this scenario having previously taken place). 

Chan sighed, looking down at Wonwoo’s sleeping face and smiling, glad that he got to be the subject of the little’s affections for the day. It was hard getting time in with them when you had a 1/9 chance, and he was just glad that he had one this round. Take that, Soonyoung.


	6. Cat Person (Hybrid!Mingyu) (GyuJun)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Requested: I'd like to see a fic (hybrid au or not, up to you) where his "puppy-like" tendencies (w/c he does have irl and it actually makes him super adorbs!) aren't constantly dwelled on to such an excessive extent where the cool and suave aspects of his personality become totally overshadowed or smth... I hope that makes sense? Basically just a cool Mingyu fic where he's paired with Jun  
> Thank you so much for requesting, and yk I had to make it into a hybrid au because I'm just weak :')  
> I hope you enjoy, and requests are always open! <3

Jun definitely should not have been going into an animal shelter, because he lived in a college dorm that did not allow pets, with his roommate who didn’t like cats, and was currently broke enough that he could barely feed himself, let alone another animal.

Did this stop him from going into an animal shelter?

No.

Because, despite all of that, despite the fact that he was broke, and living in a place that made it pretty much impossible for him to own a cat, _he was weak_.

He was weak, and he needed serotonin as much as the next guy, so he found himself stepping timidly into the shelter, smiling softly at all of the dogs in the cells closest to the door that barked excitedly at him. 

The front desk was completely vacant, though there was a half-eaten bag of chips sitting open and turned towards the chair that sat behind the counter. Jun peered around the shelter hesitantly, unable to see past the reception area unless he trekked down the slightly darkened hallways, and he knew that that was probably not a good idea. He was debating whether to clear his throat, maybe softly call out for someone, or just leave, when he stepped on something squishy that squeaked under his foot.

He jumped, looking down to see that he had the head of a dog toy pinned under his shoe. He kicked it aside, heart beating unacceptably fast. He heard commotion from somewhere down one of the hallways, more barking and then the grinding of metal against metal as a cell door was opened and then shut. 

Jun heard footsteps next, and waited hesitantly for someone to appear. But before he saw any employees emerge from wherever the hallway led to, a tiny pitbull puppy came sprinting towards him, clearly on the run from whoever was back there.

The puppy barked cheerfully, finally reaching Junhui and if he’d been any bigger, he might have been able to tackle Jun. But he wasn’t, he was tiny, so the best that he could do was to jump up at the man’s legs while his tail wagged furiously behind him. 

Jun laughed softly, crouching down to pet the puppy, although it was made rather difficult for him with all of the squirming and hopping that the dog was doing. He barely even registered that an employee had finally come out of the back rooms until he could see the tips of their shoes from where his head was still downcast, and he looked up in shock. 

There stood both the tallest, and the best-looking person that Jun had ever laid eyes on. From the smooth, tan, sharp curve of his jaw to the eyes that were roving over the scene in front of him with unwavering amusement, to the muscular arms that crossed tightly over the man’s chest, to the plump lips that were curved upwards into somewhere between a smirk and a genuine smile, this man was perfection. 

Jun had evidently been staring for a few seconds too long, instead of petting the dog, and this was made clear to him when the puppy jumped into his lap to lick his chin, successfully breaking him out of his reverie. 

Jun’s eyes widened as he stared down at the dog, jerking his head back when the puppy tried biting his nose. The employee standing before him laughed, a sound that made Jun’s tummy twist into knots as he bent down and scooped up the puppy, keeping him firmy tucked in his hands. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to let him out. You okay?”

Evidently, he didn’t look okay, because he was pretty sure that his mouth was still hung open slightly, and that if he’d been standing, his knees would have given out by now. But he nodded, managing to compose himself enough to stand back up again. He dusted himself off as best he could, knowing that there was probably fur _everywhere_ by now, but honestly he couldn’t bring himself to care that much. The man set the puppy down on the counter, quickly grabbing the bag of chips and stashing it under the desk. The puppy ran happily up and down the counter, wrestling with a pen that happened to get in his way. 

“Anyways, I’m Mingyu. Are you here for anything in particular today?”

“Um,” Jun knew that he was definitely entering dangerous territory now, there was absolutely no way that he could play with any kittens without taking them home, but what was he supposed to do, leave? He sighed, “I’m here to see if there’s any cats that I’d work well with.”

Mingyu’s face scrunched up slightly, “Cats? You’re a cat person?”

Jun felt his cheeks heat up and he had absolutely no idea why, there was nothing wrong with being a cat person! This employee made him feel oddly guilty about his life decisions.

“Um, I mean, I like both, but I would probably only be able to handle a cat right now.” A blatant lie, he couldn’t even handle a cat.

Mingyu stared at him for a moment, scrutinizing him with a gaze that made Jun want to run and hide under his covers back at his dorm and forget that this ever happened. Then a bright smile was breaking out over his face as slightly pointed canines flashed behind his lips, a laugh slipping from his lips.

“It’s fine! It’s fine, you looked so scared!”

Jun gulped, feeling a raging blush blossom on his cheeks as he stared down at the ground. He took a shaky breath, looking up again and spotting a few cats further down the hallway.

“Are they up for adoption?”

“This _is_ an adoption center.” Every word that came out of Mingyu’s mouth made Jun want to disappear but at the same time he just couldn’t stop looking at the man’s face. He was personally majoring in literature, his friend was the art major, but apparently it didn’t take an art major to know a masterpiece.

“I meant like… are people already in the process of adopting any of them.”

“Ah,” Mingyu started down the hallway, raising a hand to adjust a baseball cap that was tucked loosely on his head, “Not really. Most people come in for dogs. We haven’t adopted out a cat in almost a year.”

Jun knew that lots of people were dog people, and that some others were afraid of cats in general, but a year? That seemed like an awfully long time for any animal to have to sit in a cage alone.

Junhui trailed after Mingyu, stopping when the latter did in front of the closest cage. A two-year old ginger cat sat inside, blinking curiously at the two of them before her eyes slipped shut again and they were promptly ignored. Jun smiled, glancing over at a cat in the cage below her that seemed to be a little more starved for attention.

The second cat butted up against the bars of the cage, tail waving high in the air behind him as he tried getting Jun’s attention. With a quick nod from Mingyu Jun was reaching a finger through the metal crosshatches of the cage to pet between the kitten’s ears, and Jun felt his chest swell when the cat closed his eyes, purrs rumbling in his throat.

“That one likes you.” Mingyu smiled, leaning up against the column of cells, head leaning against the bars of another cat’s cage. The cat didn’t like this close proximity, clearly, as a clawed paw came out to swipe across Mingyu’s cheek.

Mingyu yelped, hand flying to his face to press against the small gash that had formed. Jun’s eyes widened and he stood to help Mingyu, much to the distaste of the cat that was no longer being pet. 

“Um,” Jun patted his pockets, knowing full well that he didn’t have a band-aid on hand, “I don’t have anything to help…”

“It’s fine,” Mingyu groaned, glaring at the cat before turning on his heels and rushing towards a room at the end of the hall, ‘I’ll be right back, I have some bandages back here-”

Jun turned back to the wall of cats, purposefully avoiding the testy one that had shanked Mingyu. He ended up with one hand petting a little white cat, and one trapped underneath a grey kitten that had decided that Jun’s hand was the perfect pillow.

Mingyu finally reemerged from the back room, peeking at the puppy still sitting contentedly on the counter before crouching beside Jun. He left a few feet between him and the wall of cat cages, and Jun glanced back at hum curiously.

“Do they not like you or something?”

“Nah,” Mingyu shook his head, “Too much of a dog person.”

Jun frowned slightly, laughing incredulously, “I don’t see why they would dislike you for your preferences. I mean, they’re animals, how would they even know…?”

“Mingyu looked confused for a moment and then recognition lit up his features, he reached a hand up to yank off the baseball cap that was tucked over his head, “No, no, I mean like, _literally_ , I’m a dog-person.”

The baseball cap was removed to reveal a pair of floppy black dog ears, that, had they not been raised as much as they were, would have blended perfectly into the man’s equally dark hair. Jun was barely able to suppress a gasp, hands stilling in their motions of softly scratching under the cat’s chins and behind their ears. Jun’s eyes were blown wide open, he knew that hybrids existed, but he really had never seen many of them. There were two that went to his university, out of thousands and thousands of students, so he didn’t get much exposure to them.

He realized that he was staring, quickly clearing his throat and using the cat that had just bitten sharply at his finger as an excuse to look away. He felt bad for staring, and he hoped that Mingyu wouldn’t hold it against him; he really didn’t mean any harm, he was just caught off guard.

There was a tense moment of silence before Mingyu spoke again, voice much softer and weaker, “Sorry, um, if I made you uncomfortable. I didn’t mean to.”

Jun’s eyes widened slightly and he panicked internally, “No no! That’s not what I- I mean, you didn’t… Just-” He took a breath, recalibrating his thoughts, “You didn’t make me uncomfortable. I just… I don’t see many hybrids, and I wasn’t expecting it, and I didn’t want to accidentally say the wrong thing.”

Mingyu brightened at this, cocking his head to the side and reminding Junhui of a real puppy, “Don’t worry about it. There’s not many around here, there’s only a few that I know of but most of them go to that college down the street.”

Jun nodded, smiling brightly, “That’s where I go.”

“Really?!” Mingyu sat up straighter, a hand flying to rest on Jun’s knee, “D’ya know Choi Seungcheol?”

“Um,” Junhui tried backtracking through all of his years at university, and the people that he’d met, (though it was rather hard with Mingyu’s hand resting halfway on his thigh), not recalling that name from anywhere, “No, I can’t say I do.”

“Ah,” Mingyu smiled wistfully, “He goes there. He’s in his final year, he’s one of the only hybrids there.”

“Oh? I knew there were a few, but I’ve never met one of them before.” Jun himself was in his third year, but the university was enormous, so it wasn’t unnatural for the two not to have met before.

“He’s really nice,” Somehow, the pitbull puppy that had been stationed on the counter had made his way to the floor, happily sprinting over to join the two of them. The puppy tried Jun’s lap first, but soon wriggled his way into Mingyu’s when the former proved himself too tied up to pet a third animal. Mingyu ran a finger softly over the puppy’s head between his soft, furry ears, “Hey, I never got your name.”

“Oh,” Junhui blushed slightly, realizing that he hadn’t exactly been a master at etiquette during their short meeting, “It’s Junhui. Jun, if you want.”

Mingyu smiled, those sharp teeth of his catching the light as his lips parted slightly, “It’s nice to meet you Jun. Are you sure you want a cat? Because we could duck back into the dog area right now, and play with some cute puppies.”

Though Mingyu’s proposal was appealing, Jun knew that he couldn’t manage a dog, so he laughed but shook his head, “No, I’m sure. Sorry, it’s just… I’m not even sure that I can manage a cat. I don’t want to adopt an animal that I couldn’t take care of, that’s not fair to them.”

The words brought a grin to Mingyu’s face as he finally dropped the silly rivalry, “I understand. You seem like a good person, Junhui. Not many people think about how the animals feel.”

Jun smiled, ducking his head to try and hide the expression, Mingyu chuckled, slipping a finger under Jun’s chin and lifting it so that they made eye contact, “You’re kinda shy, huh?”

Jun swore harshly in his head, managing a soft nod, “I guess.”

Mingyu hummed, letting go of Jun’s chin and resuming petting the puppy, “It’s kinda cute.”

Jun froze at the man’s words, cheeks feeling as though they couldn’t possibly get any hotter. Mingyu said nothing after that and Jun dropped the subject as well, thankful that he didn’t have to answer to that because frankly, he had no idea what he’d have said.

“Y’know, I can take one of them out for you, if you’d like.” Mingyu gestured to the cats that were still fawning over Junhui through the bars of their cages, meowing eagerly up at him.

“Um,” Jun debated saying no, because once he was _holding_ a cute kitten, there was absolutely no way that he’d get out of there without one, but then again, how could he say no to holding a cute kitten?! It would be blasphemy.

“Sure. Thank you,” Jun watched as Mingyu reached for the latch on the cage of the little white cat, sliding it open and swinging the door ajar. The cat was in Jun’s lap before he could process what was going on, and he cooed softly after breaking out of his stunned silence. The cat took to rubbing his cheeks against Jun’s face, purring softly and pressing himself up against Jun’s chest. Jun moved to hug the cat, knowing that he would definitely be adopting that one. 

Jun’s eyes were closed for only a few brief seconds as he hugged the cat, but when he opened them again he was met with Mingyu having moved closer than he was before, grinning excitedly at the pair and holding the squirmy puppy still in his lap.

“So cute! That one’s been here the longest, almost three full years.”

Jun’s mouth fell open slightly in shock, _three years_? The cat seemed so sweet, how could anyone pass him up?

“Well,” Jun cringed as he thought about bringing home the cat to a roommate who was terrified of them, in a building that didn’t allow them, living on a paycheck that probably wouldn’t support them well, “I guess there’s no reason for me to resist. How much would it be to adopt him?”

Mingyu cheered, clapping excitedly at the news that Jun had broken their year-long dry spell of cat adoptions. The puppy in his lap shared his sentiments, barking gleefully and hopping around this way and that.

Jun laughed, reaching out to scratch behind the puppy’s ears for a quick second, then going back to petting the cat that was nearly asleep in his lap. 

Mingyu chuckled, a hand clamping over the back of his neck, “Honestly, you can just take him. We lower the price each month that they’re left here and by now he can’t cost more than a few bucks.”

“A-are you sure?” Jun felt scandalous stealing a cat from an animal shelter, “Is that allowed?”

“Don’t worry about it, like I said, another month here and he might cost negative money. Just take him.”

Jun nodded silently, peering down at the cat that was finally sleeping soundly in his arms, head resting snugly on Jun’s shoulder.

“I can get paperwork going for you, you’re welcome to follow, if you want, or you can stay here until I’m finished.”

“That’s okay,” Jun stood, making sure that he didn’t jostle the kitten in his arms, “I’ll come with you. I gotta sign stuff anyways, right?”

Mingyu nodded, letting the pitbull puppy trail behind them as they made their way back to the reception desk. Mingyu ducked behind the counter, grabbing several papers from underneath the desk and piling them all together.

He took a highlighter, slashing several lines that Jun was to sign. He presented Junhui with the paperwork, excusing himself to go back and gather the contents of a small adoption kit that the shelter offered.

Jun gently set the cat down on the counter, smiling when the puppy sat on his feet and looked excitedly up at him. The cat didn’t stir, so Jun quickly filled out all of the necessary forms, shifting his weight back and forth between one foot and the other as the seemingly endless stack of papers only got more confusing.

After what felt like an hour of signing, Mingyu finally emerged from the supply room, a crate in his hand as well as a light red ribbon, a few containers of cat food and some toys. He spotted the cat asleep on the counter, laughing softly and reaching out to run a single finger over his ear.

“I’m not allowed to touch them when they’re awake, or else they scratch me. This is all I get.” Mingyu joked, slipping a finger under the cat’s chin and raising it, slipping the ribbon underneath and gently letting go. He fastened the ribbon with a quick, sloppily-tied bow, and Jun raised an eyebrow questioningly.

“Most cats don’t like to be collared, and don’t need to be either, but just in case something happens on your way home, our address and number is stitched into the ribbon, so they’ll hopefully be returned, and we can call you.”

Jun hummed in acknowledgement, giving the last paper a few scratches of ink and sighing as he picked up the giant packet of papers, handing it over to Mingyu.

“ ‘S a lot, huh?”

“Yeah. Never had to fill it out before.”

“Oh, first-time adoption?”

“Yeah.” Jun smiled adoringly down at the cat on the counter, gently scratching behind his ears.

“Ah, that’s always super special. Well hey, we need your phone number here, you forgot to fill that out.”

Jun looked to where Mingyu was pointing at one of the forms that he’d signed earlier, seeing that there was one highlighted line that he’d missed, asking for his number. He quickly uncapped the pen again, scribbling his number as neatly as possible and handing the forms back to the hybrid behind the counter.

“Alright, thank you so much, seriously, they may not like me but it hurts to see them sit there like that for years and years.” Mingyu helped Jun gently scoot the cat into his crate, miraculously not awakening the sleeping animal while they did so.

“No, no, thank _you_ for helping me, um,” Jun felt his cheeks heat up slightly, “I’m glad I came in here today.”

Mingyu grinned, “Me too.”

Jun smiled, turning to the door and laughing when the puppy stayed right at his heels. Mingyu rushed to pick the animal up, cradling it in his arms so that Jun could leave the building without letting him run loose.

“Wait!” Mingyu grabbed Jun’s arm before he could step over the threshold, holding the squirming puppy up to Jun’s eyelevel, “He wants a kiss goodbye.”

Jun’s eyebrows furrowed slightly but he laughed nevertheless, leaning forwards to kiss the puppy on the forehead. Except, it was _definitely_ not the puppy that he ended up kissing, because before he had any time to react, Mingyu surged forwards, wrapping a (huge) hand around the back of Jun’s neck and pulling the man into a real kiss. Jun’s eyes widened and his only free hand instinctively flew up to push Mingyu away but his brain finally began working again, and he let his eyes slip shut, stepping as close as possible to the hybrid standing before him as he melted into the kiss. 

Although the effect that it had on the both of them was staggering, knees ready to buckle and eyes barely able to stay open as lovesick grins split their faces, the kiss barely lasted for a few seconds. They broke away to stare each other in the eyes, Jun’s cheeks aflame while Mingyu looked as perfectly unphased as ever. 

“Sorry. I just had to do it before you left.”

“Don’t apologize,” Junhui mumbled, biting his lip to attempt to contain a smile that felt like it would split him in two, “I liked it.”

“Good,” Mingyu breathed, leaning closer to brush his lips against Jun’s teasingly, “Let’s do it again.”


	7. Sick and Tired (Omega!Mingyu)(Alpha!Wonwoo)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Requested: Oh and if you're comfortable with omegaverse, also a meanie fanfic with omega mingyu?  
> Hi loves! Sorry it's been a bit since my last update, I've been so stressed abt school :')  
> I'm so sorry if this isn't what you had in mind, I'm not quite comfortable with smut so I had to steer around it, I hope this is okay :')  
> Requests are always open! <3

“I think we should do it one more time.” 

Wonwoo groaned, glaring up at Seungcheol, “We’ve done it twelve times today.”

“I _know_ , but Mingyu isn’t here to practice with us, so we have to be sure that we get it absolutely perfect so that he doesn’t have to work as hard, because the deadline is _tomorrow_ , have you forgotten?”

Wonwoo sighed, but stepped back up to the microphone, trying to remember if a solo unit practice had ever run this long before. 

\--

By the time that the three healthy members of the Hip-Hop Unit were done practicing, it was well after dark, and too late to go out to eat anywhere. Had it been any other day, they’d have bullied Mingyu into making them dinner, but Mingyu was currently out of commission, sick in bed because of side effects of the suppressant pills that he’d been forced to take.

It had made Wonwoo sick to his stomach to even suggest them, but this was the last week before their latest full album would be released, and all of the tiny details needed refining. They couldn’t afford both Mingyu _and _Wonwoo tied up for an entire week.__

__Mingyu had never had to use suppressants before, so he wasn’t exactly aware that he would be hypersensitive to the change. Within hours of the first pill that he took he was hunched over the toilet, practically choking on his own vomit as Wonwoo panicked beside him, trying to figure out how the hell he was supposed to fix the situation._ _

__The pills did what they were supposed to, and Mingyu hadn’t suffered from any symptoms of his usual heats. But honestly, now that Mingyu was stuck in bed, nose rosy and raw, stomach churning, and eyes swollen from crying, Wonwoo wished that they’d just pushed the release date on their album back._ _

__He got out of their car in a daze, brows furrowed as he tried figuring out how he was going to play the night out. They had leftover soup in the fridge that he could heat up for Mingyu, and their netflix queue had been getting longer and longer as they’d started production on their album. They could probably knock out three movies before Mingyu crashed, or binge a series. And hopefully the brunt of the sickness was over, and Mingyu would be able to hold the soup down._ _

__Seungcheol had to grab Wonwoo’s shoulder to stop him from walking straight into the closed front door, yanking him back with a frown on his face._ _

__“You okay?”_ _

__Wonwoo blinked bewilderedly, having been rudely awakened from his trance, but nodded nevertheless, “Yeah. Sorry.”_ _

__“He’s gonna be fine.”_ _

__The pit of guilt in Wonwoo’s stomach twisted in shame at Seungcheol’s words. Logically, he knew that Mingyu would get over the symptoms as soon as he was off of the pills. But that didn’t mean that he felt any better about asking the omega to take them. He would be throwing the suppressant pills away the second Mingyu was through with taking them._ _

__They stepped through the door and each member made a beeline for his own room, exhausted from doing and redoing their lines a thousand times. Wonwoo walked as fast as he could without sprinting down the hallway towards Mingyu’s closed door. He finally turned to stand in front of it, seeing Seungkwan sitting on the floor, his head thrown back against the wood._ _

__“He won’t come out.” Seungkwan regarded Wonwoo with tired eyes, one hand clutching his phone, “I’ve tried everything. He just wants you in there.”_ _

__Wonwoo nodded, throat tightening slightly as he braced himself for what he was about to walk into. He knocked gently on the door, muttering a soft, _‘Mingyu, ‘s me,’_ and waiting for an answer._ _

__“Come in~” Wonwoo heard a soft whine from inside the locked room._ _

__“The door’s locked Gyu, you gotta get up and let me in.”_ _

__There was a groan and then shuffling from behind the door, then a soft click and the door swung open. Wonwoo probably should have made sure that Mingyu wasn’t behind the door when he barged his way in, but it was okay because when he got inside he actually… couldn’t see Mingyu?_ _

__The omega was nowhere to be found, as Wonwoo peered around the dim room. He pushed the door shut behind him, eliminating the small ray of light that was streaming through the opening. Wonwoo shuffled around hesitantly for a moment, feeling his way to the bed. It didn’t feel like a bed, though. He fumbled for the bedside lamp and finally flicked it on, eyes burning for a moment before they adjusted to the harsh change in lighting._ _

__Wonwoo was not sure that Mingyu’s bed actually existed anymore, because the enormous pile of clothes, blankets, and pillows that was stacked on top of it was all that could be seen. Upon further inspection, Mingyu was there, hidden underneath a layer of blankets while his head rested on a pillow by the head of the bed. The omega cringed at the bright lights, burrowing further into the colossal nest that he’d made for himself._ _

__“Are you feeling any better?” Wonwoo eyed the trash can next to the bed, noting that it looked as though it had just recently been dumped and washed out._ _

__“No. Took another one a few minutes ago.”_ _

__All Wonwoo could do was hum as he set down his things, sliding his jacket off and tossing it on the chair in the corner of the room. He carefully climbed into the nest that had been made, leaning himself against the headboard of the bed so that he wouldn’t cause it to collapse._ _

__Mingyu shivered slightly when Wonwoo lifted the blanket that he was under, but happily shimmied to the side to drape himself over Wonwoo as soon as the man was settled. Wonwoo frowned at the image of Mingyu’s flushed cheeks, eyes slightly puffy from crying accompanied by dark circles beneath them from lack of sleep. Wonwoo pressed a hand to Mingyu’s forehead and nearly yanked it back, marveling at how his boyfriend seemed to be on fire._ _

__“Have you been taking fever medications?”_ _

__Mingyu frowned, propping himself up on Wonwoo’s chest and pointing unceremoniously towards the box of suppressants._ _

__“No, no, not heat fever,” Wonwoo tried recalling if they even had any over the counter pills for fevers, “Like, temperature fevers, real fevers, like you have now.”_ _

__“No,” Mingyu shook his head, plopping it back down onto Wonwoo’s chest, “I don’t think that’s allowed.”_ _

__Wonwoo snorted, “Who’s coming to stop you?”_ _

__“I mean like, the suppressants are giving me the fever, and I think that if I take extra meds to counteract the meds that I’m already taking, that it’s gonna mess me up.”_ _

__“I guess,” Wonwoo sighed, raking a hand through Mingyu’s hair and noticing that it was plastered to his forehead, sweat practically dripping down his face._ _

__“Holy crap, you’re sweating like crazy,” Wonwoo grabbed a shirt from somewhere inside their nest, using it to gently sponge at Mingyu’s forehead._ _

__“I’m so cold,” Mingyu whined, burrowing further under the covers as though he wasn’t currently scalding._ _

__Wonwoo bit his lip to stop it from trembling, helping Mingyu wrap himself in the blankets and running a hand through the omega’s hair. Mingyu’s heavy breathing was all that was heard for a few moments, a comfortable silence falling over the pair. Then, Mingyu’s hands tightened momentarily in Wonwoo’s shirt, and he was launching himself off of the bed and over to the trash can._ _

__Wonwoo swore violently as Mingyu puked, kneeling beside him and gently resting a hand on the man’s back. There was a half empty glass of water on the nightstand that Wonwoo quickly grabbed, and once Mingyu was finished throwing up he wordlessly passed it over._ _

__Mingyu rinsed and spit back into the garbage, thanking Wonwoo gruffly for the drink and shakily standing. Wonwoo quickly rose to his feet to help him, easing the omega back to the safety of his blanket pile._ _

__“I’m gonna get fresh water and mouthwash, okay? I won’t give you soup just yet.” Wonwoo leaned down to press a kiss to Mingyu’s forehead, hating how flushed the skin felt against his lips._ _

__Mingyu hummed in acknowledgement, eyes slipping shut momentarily in fatigue. Wonwoo managed to open the door near silently, slipping out into the hallway that Seungkwan had long since evacuated._ _

__The hallway was actually completely empty as each member was either in their shared living space or in their own private bedrooms. As he was the only member that had to share with anyone, and it just happened to be his omega, no one else really had any reason to be bothering them._ _

__Wonwoo filled a glass with fresh ice water, grabbing a package of saltine crackers as an afterthought. They seemed bland enough to not upset Mingyu’s stomach any further, and Wonwoo had no idea how much was actually left in the omega’s stomach after throwing up so much for days on end._ _

__Mouthwash was in the cabinet below the sink in one of their shared bathrooms, and Wonwoo grabbed a medicine cup so that he could give Mingyu just a small amount to help with the aftertaste of the vomit. He had the three items balanced perfectly in his grip, pushing the door open with his elbow and trying his hardest not to trip in the darkened room._ _

__“Close the door,” Mingyu whined, voice still hoarse from how sore his throat was._ _

__“Hold on,” Wonwoo was able to deposit the mouthwash and the water onto the dresser safely, “Got too much in my hands.”_ _

__Mingyu groaned, turning over onto his stomach so that his face was shielded from any and all light that was streaming in through the door. Wonwoo finally was able to kick the door shut, tossing the crackers onto the bed and bringing the two cups over to Mingyu’s nightstand._ _

__“Okay, here. Mouthwash,” Wonwoo held up the medicine cup, “And water.” The water was placed back on the nightstand and the mouthwash was passed over to Mingyu who reluctantly made his way back over to the garbage to spit._ _

__Wonwoo was waiting for Mingyu when the omega was finished with the mouthwash, arms open in an invitation that Mingyu took as eagerly as he could with how sick he was. Wonwoo wrapped Mingyu in a tight hug, caging the omega against his chest and resting his cheek on Mingyu’s head._ _

__Mingyu’s breathing was labored as his nose was stuffy and his chest felt tight, and every so often he’d break into a coughing fit that required him to sit up and away from Wonwoo. Finally though, Mingyu’s eyes shut and his head weighed heavy on Wonwoo’s chest, the omega’s hands loosening slightly in Wonwoo’s shirt as he drifted off. Wonwoo finally peered down at Mingyu’s sleeping face, seeing that he was beginning to pale, fever probably reducing while nausea kicked in again._ _

__It took Wonwoo less than a minute to start crying._ _

__The sight of Mingyu laying on his chest, looking practically lifeless, because of a drug that he’d asked the omega to take, _really_ struck him. He’d take complaints from fans (which they probably wouldn’t have gotten anyways), and a scolding from their staff any day over this. He kept his sobs to a minimum, but he couldn’t stop tears from sliding down his cheeks and eventually hitting Mingyu’s head._ _

__Wonwoo was quick to wipe the tears away so that Mingyu wouldn’t wake up but it was too late, his movements had already startled the omega enough to rouse him from sleep. Mingyu blinked sleepily, although his eyes widened as soon as he saw Wonwoo crying._ _

__“What’s wrong?!” Mingyu was cupping Wonwoo’s cheeks in seconds, squishing them slightly as he moved to straddle the older’s hips and peer down at him worriedly._ _

__Wonwoo bit his lip to contain a full-blown sob, and consequently didn’t answer Mingyu, who only grew more worried at the alpha’s lack of response._ _

__“Wonwoo~,” Mingyu frowned, letting his hand fall from the older’s cheek only to wipe the man’s tears, “Talk to me. What’s wrong?”_ _

__“ ‘S just,” Wonwoo breathed, chest heaving slightly as he held his breath, “You’re so sick. You can barely walk. You can’t eat. And it’s all because of me.”_ _

__“What? What are you talking about?” Mingyu frowned, lightly brushing a thumb over the apple of Wonwoo’s cheeks._ _

__“I asked you to take suppressants. It’s all my fault that you’re-”_ _

__“Wonwoo, stop it!”_ _

__Wonwoo felt a hand clamp over his mouth and he stared down at it bewilderedly, then up at Mingyu._ _

__“Stop blaming yourself, it’s not your fault. None of us knew I was gonna be this sensitive. I didn’t even know. And you made the right choice, at least you got to be functional this week! I’m okay, really, it’s not that bad.”_ _

__“Not that bad?!” Wonwoo reached up to take Mingyu’s hand, tugging it away from his mouth, “Mingyu, you’ve been throwing up for three days straight. I don’t think you actually have anything left in you. That’s not ‘not that bad’._ _

__Mingyu sighed, running a hand through his hair in exasperation, “I know, I know, I just meant that I wasn’t, like, dying or anything. I can handle this, it’s just like when someone lets Seokmin or Seungkwan near the stove.”_ _

__Wonwoo smiled softly at the jab towards their younger members… _experimental_ cooking, but he couldn’t help it turning into a frown mere seconds later._ _

__“I just-”_ _

__“No,” Mingyu rushed to slap a hand over Wonwoo’s mouth again, clamping it shut, “No more blaming yourself. It’s not your fault. And don’t you dare lick my hand.”_ _

__Wonwoo promptly closed his mouth, thwarted in his attempts to free himself. Mingyu laughed, finally retracting his hand so that he could comfortably lean his forehead on Wonwoo’s. Wonwoo smiled, staring adoringly up at the omega above him._ _

__In the softest tone of voice that he could muster, with the sweetest smile, he breathed, “Your breath smells like puke.”_ _

__“Unbelievable!”_ _


	8. Win-Win (Soonwoo) (Idolverse)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wonwoo is certain that Soonyoung's pda towards him is just typical Soonyoung behavior, and Soonyoung is sure that Wonwoo pushing him away every time he tries to hint at his feelings towards the younger man is Wonwoo telling him that he's not interested. Thankfully, Seungcheol cares enough about them both to butt into their love lives, and all ends well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I-  
> I am so sorry for the long wait! I've been absolutely consumed with schoolwork, and I was trying to get out three fics for the holiday season. Things should go faster after this! Thank you for being patient with me, and I hope you enjoy this! Remember, requests are always open! <3
> 
> Request: may i request for a very fluff soonwoo fic 🥺? yknow how soonyoung is rlly clingy and wonwoo jokingly pushes him away- i would like to see soonyoung annoy wonwoo with hugs, cuddles, acting cute and all that and wonwoo pretends he hates it all the time but actually really finds soonyoung cute and likes babying him- would that be okay 👉👈 you can interpret it differently ! tbh any soonwoo fluff will do ><  
> you know how in svt's TTT (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOoWy6ZUsR4 TS:16:20) that part when soonyoung tries to hug wonwoo when theyre lying down watching tv but wonwoo pushes him away 😔 i would like it to be expounded? like maybe wonwoo yearns so much for soonyoung, but is frustrated because he cant just. confess outright and soonyoung is openly clingy because he just is but soonyoung actually likes him back but is afraid to confess too because he thinks wonwoo would hate him- so basically oblivious mutual pining and the rest of svt are frustrated that the two havent realized they both like each other and are too afraid to confess. does this make sense..? HWJDKWKQKW

It got harder every day. To keep trying. When all of the signs pointed to ‘Not Interested’. Soonyoung was getting tired of trying. But he couldn’t give up, either. He didn’t know what to do. So he did all that he could, and continued day after day pretending like his heart wasn’t slowly being torn in half inch by inch by his fellow member.

\--

Even the car ride was suffocating. Soonyoung was in a particularly testy mood to begin with, they were all jostled around way too early to get into their separate cars to go to some resort, and as much as he loved providing content for fans and going on group adventures, he was tired. He just wanted to spend a day doing absolutely nothing.

He was instructed to sit in the front and Wonwoo took one of the back seats, but honestly Soonyoung wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. Sure, he didn’t have to look at Wonwoo for the entire trip, but he kind of wanted to. It would just remind him of all of the rejection that was festering inside of him, but Wonwoo was pretty. He was nice to look at.

Soonyoung tried distracting himself by singing along to the songs that they played in the car. He played his enthusiasm up for the cameras, going out of his way to be as attention-grabbing as possible. Maybe then, Wonwoo would look at him. 

He got a few laughs out of the younger throughout the entire trip (most likely for the camera), but overall Wonwoo remained unphased. He was perfectly happy to chat with Minghao about the ins and outs of Chinese culture, but god forbid he engage in simple conversation with Soonyoung. The older tried busying himself with whatever snacks they got along the way, but it got increasingly harder to ignore the way that Wonwoo ignored him. 

\--

In getting to their (admittedly nice) resort, Soonyoung managed to forget about his current heartbreak, instead laughing along with the others when they made jokes for the camera or tripped over each other in the small space. It was easy to laugh at situations that made his own seem smaller.

Night time came too soon for the group, and Soonyoung found himself lying beside Seungcheol as the older watched TV. Soonyoung kept his eyes glued to the screen, though no information was being taken in as he stared blankly at it. There was a foot or two of space between him and Seungcheol and Soonyoung thought nothing of it. That is, until Wonwoo came to fill it. 

Soonyoung felt his tummy fill with butterflies at the younger’s presence, steeling himself so that he didn’t lose his mind. He watched as Wonwoo situated himself so that he was turned away from Soonyoung, back to the man as he faced Seungcheol instead. Soonyoung tried not to let it hurt him, Wonwoo just wanted a view of the television, right?

\--

Wonwoo tried keeping his breathing under control as he faced away from Soonyoung. The television was blasting but it was mere background noise to Wonwoo as his brain ran 1000 miles per hour. He could hear Soonyoung moving around behind him, and he felt himself become hypertense as he wondered if the man would-

Touch him, Soonyoung was _touching_ him, there was an arm around his waist and a leg messily thrown over Wonwoo’s own. Wonwoo’s breath hitched and he prayed that Soonyoung couldn’t hear it as he tried relaxing in the older man’s hold. 

Wonwoo finally let his guard down, somehow forgetting about the camera in the corner of the room currently recording them as he tried slowing his racing thoughts. He felt a small smile slip onto his face and wasn’t able to wipe the expression away. 

\--

Soonyoung could barely contain himself, arm tightening over Wonwoo’s waist as he tucked his head into Wonwoo’s shoulder. Wonwoo tensed up slightly and Soonyoung slowed in his movements, but continued wrapping the younger in his arms when Wonwoo relaxed. The younger was on his phone, and Soonyoung was able to peer over his shoulder to watch what he was doing. It wasn’t much, but it was entertaining, because it was Wonwoo.

\--

Wonwoo busied himself with his phone, trying his hardest not to think about the way that Soonyoung’s nose was buried in his neck, The touch was electrifying, Soonyoung’s hands around his tummy sending waves of warmth through the younger man. 

Seungcheol was oblivious to what was taking place beside him, until a stupid joke was made on the show that they had on and he turned to see if the others were laughing. He only smiled wider at the sight before him, though the camera still capturing their every move was in the back of his mind.

“Carats are going to blow this up on twitter, you know,” Seungcheol mused, reaching out to teasingly pinch Wonwoo’s cheek. Surprisingly, Wonwoo didn’t swat Seungcheol away like he thought would happen, instead his eyes grew wide and darted towards the camera in the corner.

\--

Soonyoung felt his cheeks grow warm at Seungcheol’s words, knowing that their leader was right. Carats loved seeing them engage in skinship with each other, and this was on the touchier side. He wouldn’t mind seeing pictures of this for weeks on end.

His small daydream ended abruptly when Wonwoo pulled himself forwards, tugging himself out of Soonyoung’s arms and resting further towards Seungcheol. Soonyoung was left to wrap his arms around himself instead, hugging his stomach and staring at Wonwoo’s back while he began zoning out. 

Was the idea of being seen with him so repulsive to Wonwoo?

\--

Wonwoo thought that his cheeks might never cool off, that they might permanently be stained bright red after he finally broke free. Sitting there, being trapped in Soonyoung’s arms was already torture enough knowing that it meant absolutely nothing to the older, that Soonyoung was just touchy by nature and that he’d latch onto anything and everything that he could. It hurt to know that it didn’t mean anything, but he had enjoyed being the dancer’s anchor for those few short minutes.

However, he didn’t think he could stand being reminded of it for weeks on end. He didn’t want to be bombarded with pictures of them together, _Hey, remember that time you got your hopes up and read way too far into a situation that actually meant nothing at all? Remember that?_

So, he busied himself again on his phone, hoping that he wouldn’t be taken hostage again, at least while the camera was on. 

\--

The rest of their filming went by fairly quickly, and Soonyoung was looking forward to going back to their dorms, shutting himself in his room with as much alcohol as he could without looking in danger of poisoning himself, and drowning in his own feelings. Maybe they’d go away. 

So, when their cars pulled up into each respective parking space, and the trunks were opened for the boys to get their luggage, that’s exactly what Soonyoung did, hoisting his bag over his shoulder and making sure to grab their leftover drinks. 

He was the first inside, mumbling a quiet hello and thank you to the staff member that had taken to cleaning while they were gone, and headed down the hallway to his room. His door was slammed before any of the other members had even gotten inside, though Jihoon and Jisoo shot each other questioning looks when they realized that he’d shut himself in his room.

\--

Wonwoo was the last to grab his bags, everyone else far too eager to get their stuff and get back to their own beds. He’d been pushed and shoved one too many times, so he stuck to the back and let everyone else get their things first.

Wonwoo was glad that he hadn’t packed too much, as his bag was light and easy to carry even though he felt like he could drop dead any second with fatigue. He noticed that one of Soonyoung’s shirts was stuffed behind his bag, (and it had been there for god knows how long), and he sighed as he picked it up and slung it over his shoulder to return to the dancer.

Wonwoo haphazardly tossed his bag into his room, tugging the shirt off of his shoulder and making his way down the hall to Soonyoung’s room. The door was closed, and that was somewhat odd, because Soonyoung was usually always vying for someone’s attention, and would never impede someone from coming into his room to talk to him. He wrote it off as the older just being tired, though, and knocked softly on the door, just in case Soonyoung was asleep.

“Hey, I have your shirt. You left it in the car.” Wonwoo paused, listening for any signs of movement from behind the door. He heard a soft sigh, then the quiet shuffling of footsteps and Soonyoung’s door was opening.

The man’s face was red, though from the alcohol that was clutched tightly in his fist, or from tiredness, Wonwoo didn’t know. Soonyoung did look tired, but not exactly sleepy, just exhausted. Burnt out. It wasn’t a good look on the older, and it rarely ever was showcased.

“Um, I found your shirt. In the car. Behind my bag.” Wonwoo held out the shirt and waited for Soonyoung to do something, _anything_ , move, say something, acknowledge his presence in any way, shape, or form. Finally, Soonyoung sighed, louder this time, gently plucking the shirt from Wonwoo’s grasp and thanking him gruffly.

Soonyoung turned to go back to doing whatever the hell he was doing before Wonwoo had knocked, and Wonwoo had half a mind to stick his foot in the doorframe so that the door couldn’t be shut again. He didn’t, instead opting to feebly call out for the older as he turned his back on Wonwoo.

“Hey, are you ok-” The door was shut right in Wonwoo’s face, cutting him off and only making him worry further for the surly dancer behind the door.

But, he knew that alone time would probably help Soonyoung a lot, he’d be able to rest and hopefully make a recovery, so he left Soonyoung alone, trudging back to his own room, and wasting no time in burying himself under his covers and drifting off to sleep.

\--

Soonyoung was hitting rock bottom. He knew this. But that didn’t stop him from falling further. His hands, made shaky by the several bottles of liquor that he’d already consumed, (they weren’t permitted anything too strong, so Soonyoung had to drink a lot to get the effect that he desired), messily typed his search into the youtube search bar, then enter, and he was on his way. 

Soonyoung was completely unaware of how to get rid of his feelings. He didn’t want them anymore, how was he supposed to just vanquish them? He’d finally decided to watch those compilation videos that fans put out, of their favorite pairings within the group. He knew that Wonwoo was often paired up with Mingyu, that for some reason their fans _really_ latched onto that pairing, so as soon as he was able to type in the right words, (there were a lot of typos along the way), he clicked on the longest video that he could find.

_‘Meanie moments to give you clear skin (#3)’_

Soonyoung managed to click on the video with only a little difficulty, turning his phone sideways and watching with slightly hazy vision as the video played.

\--

Though Seungcheol was completely exhausted, especially so because he was the leader and that just meant more work for him overall, he still stopped by each room to check on his members before going to sleep in his own room. Jeonghan was already dead asleep. Chan was scrolling through twitter instead of sleeping, but he was okay, and that’s all that mattered. Seokmin sleepily smiled and waved to him as he came in, looking like he could fall fast asleep any second, so Seungcheol whispered a soft, _‘goodnight,’_ to the man, and he was off to the next room. He knocked, waited, and then pushed the door open when he was prompted to. Mingyu was snoring, so he had a feeling that their young rapper was fine, but Wonwoo was eyeing Seungcheol warily, questions trapped behind his (admittedly droopy) eyes.

“You okay Wonwoo?”

“Yeah. Just tired. Hey, will you, um,” Wonwoo ran back through his previous interaction with Soonyoung one more time, remembering the dead look in the man’s eyes, “Will you check on Soonyoung too? He doesn’t seem quite right.”

Seungcheol frowned, knowing that if _Soonyoung_ seemed ‘not quite right’, that there was definitely a problem. 

“Sure, I’ll handle it. Thanks for letting me know,” Seungcheol teasingly poked Wonwoo’s cheek, laughing when he was frantically swatted away. He shut Wonwoo and Mingyu’s door behind him as he left, approaching Soonyoung’s closed door with growing dread in the pit of his stomach. 

He knocked softly, once, twice, “Hey, Soonyoung? Can I come in?”

Seungcheol heard absolutely nothing from inside the room, presuming that Soonyoung was already asleep. Hopefully he was just tired. He gently twisted the doorknob anyways, peering into the room to see if it was okay for him to come in.

Soonyoung was laying in his bed, phone clutched tightly in his hands and held above his face. Seungcheol could see headphones stuffed in Soonyoung’s ears, sighing and getting ready to berate the younger man for turning his volume up so loud. He made his way over to Soonyoung’s bed, stepping into the dancer’s line of vision.

Soonyoung gasped, phone tumbling from his hands and bouncing down onto the floor. Soonyoung was too busy cupping the sore spot on his nose that his phone had bounced off of, so Seungcheol grabbed the man’s phone, apologizing to him for scaring him.

“Sorry! I didn’t know you’d jump like that. I just thought-” Seungcheol finally glanced down at the phone in his hands, watching as the video that was playing progressed, showing Mingyu hanging onto Wonwoo’s arm and trying to kiss his cheek, much to the older man’s displeasure.

“Um,” Seungcheol glanced warily back at Soonyoung who barely seemed to register that what he was doing was coming off as very strange, “Why are you watching this?”

“Because,” Soonyoung’s voice was hoarse and Seungcheol noted that the man’s cheeks were flushed and his eyes were tinted red as well, “I don’t wanna feel this way anymore.”

Seungcheol frowned, stepping closer to the bed to join the dancer, foot hitting something by the foot of the bed and knocking it over. He glanced down to see that he had kicked over several bottles of alcohol, startlingly empty. 

“Jesus Christ, Soonyoung, what’s going on?”

Soonyoung looked wearily up at his leader, barely giving the older man a moment’s notice before bursting into tears. Seungcheol’s mouth fell open and he was left to unsuccessfully try to pry the man’s hands away from his face, sighing in defeat only seconds later and plopping down beside Soonyoung onto the bed.

Soonyoung cried for quite a while, though he finally slowed down, wiping furiously at his eyes and sniffling as he pulled himself together. Seungcheol sat patiently beside him on the bed, legs crossed as he waited for Soonyoung to explain himself.

Soonyoung was definitely too intoxicated to pick up on Seungcheol’s growing impatience, sitting and staring at the bedsheets with a dead expression rather than explaining himself. Seungcheol finally ducked down slightly to meet Soonyoung’s eyes, smiling softly.

“Hey, do you wanna talk about it?”

Soonyoung blinked hazily, sniffling once more and scooting forwards, letting his head slump pitifully on Seungcheol’s shoulder. Seungcheol cooed, reminded of the many nights before they’d debuted when Soonyoung had been self conscious of their abilities as a group. Just like he did all those years ago, Seungcheol tugged Soonyoung into a tight hug, trying not to let himself cry as he did so. 

They sat in silence for a few moments until Soonyoung finally mustered up the courage to say something, glaring defeatedly at his phone still playing the tail end of the video he’d been watching.

“I think I’m in love. With Wonwoo. And he doesn’t feel the same. And now I don’t want to feel it anymore.” Soonyoung mumbled, avoiding eye contact with Seungcheol like the plague.

Seungcheol frowned, “What are you talking about?”

“I don’t know! I don’t know, I just,” Soonyoung sighed, “I love him. A lot.”

“Well, yeah, duh, but like,” Seungcheol struggled to come up with an adequate estimate of just how many times he’d seen Wonwoo trip over his own feet after having been complimented by Soonyoung, cheeks burning crimson for everyone to see, “are you blind too?”

“What?” Soonyoung tugged his sleeve over his hand, wiping at his eyes and looking warily up at Seungcheol.

“You have to be kidding,” Seungcheol scoffed, “You really haven’t noticed?”

“Noticed _what_?!” Soonyoung huffed, clearly too intoxicated to put two and two together on his own.

“Nevermind, just,” Seungcheol sprang up from the bed, pushing Soonyoung to lay back against his pillows, “I’ll be right back. Turn off your phone. And don’t fall asleep.”

Soonyoung looked vaguely bewildered but listened to his leader’s orders, laying back helplessly against the headboard of his bed. Seungcheol was out of Soonyoung’s room and down the hall within a few seconds, slamming Wonwoo and Mingyu’s door open, but miraculously not waking up Mingyu.

Wonwoo looked at Seungcheol with alarm, wide eyes holding even more questions than they had before, “What? Jesus, what happened?”

“Come with me,” Seungcheol grabbed Wonwoo’s wrist, quite literally dragging the man out of his bed and down the hallway to Soonyoung’s room.

“Wait, wait,” Wonwoo panicked as they approached the door, “I don’t think he wants to see me, I think-”

“Just shut up and kiss him or something, I dunno.” Seungcheol tried shoving Wonwoo towards Soonyoung’s door but Wonwoo fought against him, backing up down the hallway with wide eyes.

“ _What?!_ I can’t just go in there and kiss him! He doesn’t even like me!”

“Oh my _god_ ,” Seungcheol groaned, finally getting a better grip on Wonwoo’s arm and yanking him back to stand in front of the closed door, “You’re both ten times dumber than I thought you were, and for the record, I’ve seen you both do some pretty dumb stuff. So this doesn’t bode well for you.” With that, Seungcheol swung Soonyoung’s door open, shoving Wonwoo in and shutting the door behind him before he could escape.

Seungcheol held the door shut, knowing that Wonwoo would probably try to flee at the first sign of possible confrontation, tempted to press an ear to the door to hear what was going on inside.

\--

Soonyoung stiffened as he saw Wonwoo stumble through his doorway instead of Seungcheol, mentally giving his leader a piece of his mind that he’d never have the courage or disrespect to actually voice out loud. Soonyoung quickly took to staring at the blanket, picking stray threads off of the seams.

Wonwoo stood frozen with his back pressed up against the door, watching as Soonyoung fidgeted with his blanket. He had absolutely no idea what to say, and he wasn’t able to twist the doorknob anymore, so there was no escape. 

He finally settled on a _genius_ conversation starter, “Um, the blanket’s gonna fall apart if you keep doing that.” Definitely an intellectual.

Soonyoung scoffed lightly, reaching for his phone and muttering something under his breath. Wonwoo’s stomach dropped and he felt tears prick at his eyes, “Soonyoung, what did I do?”

“Just go away Wonwoo.” Soonyoung mumbled, eyes never leaving his phone screen.

Wonwoo checked the door again, seeing that he still couldn’t turn the knob at all.

“I can’t. I’m stuck in here. With you. We’re stuck. Together.”

Soonyoung rolled his eyes, scooting himself down further towards the foot of the bed and wrapping the blankets around himself, turning to face away from Wonwoo, “I’m tired. I’m going to sleep.”

“Please-” Wonwoo’s voice cracked but he was cut off by Seungcheol anyways, falling silent as he tried stopping tears from dripping down his cheeks.

“Soonyoung!” Seungcheol’s voice was slightly muffled, but it was definitely angry, “Stop being difficult!”

“This isn’t funny, Seungcheol!” Soonyoung shouted, face flushed red from a mix of fury and alcohol.

“Soonyoung,” Seungcheol’s tone quickly slipped into the one that he used when he was lecturing them, “I’m doing this to help you. Don’t keep torturing yourselves.”

“What the hell am I supposed to do?!” Soonyoung finally sat up again, speaking as though Seungcheol were in the room with them, “I have no control over any of this!”

“Wonwoo!” Seungcheol huffed, letting his head slump forwards and ram into the door, “Soonyoung is in love with you.”

Soonyoung froze, his eyes widening and cheeks reddening. Wonwoo did the same, though it was only Soonyoung that began crying.

“Seungcheol! How could you?!”

“Wonwoo! Fix this!” Seungcheol finally let go of the doorknob, leaving the two inside the room to sit in awkward silence, only a few sniffles cutting into it.

When Soonyoung finally calmed down again, chest no longer heaving with sobs of embarrassment, Wonwoo cautiously made his way over to the foot of the bed.

“Was he telling the truth?”

“Go away.” Soonyoung whispered, eyes glossy.

“Answer me.”

“No.”

“ _Answer me_!”

“ _Yes_! Yes, it’s true, I landed myself in some sort of messed-up love triangle except it’s not a triangle at all, it’s just a happy couple and a third wheel.”

“Happy couple…?” Wonwoo waited for a reply but none came, so he shook his head and sat on the end of Soonyoung’s bed, “Listen Soonyoung, I think we’ve been reading each other wrong.”

“What do you mean?” Soonyoung sniffled, wiping his nose on his sleeve.

“I,” Wonwoo paused, cheeks growing rosy, “I love you too.”

Soonyoung opened his mouth to respond, thought about it for a moment, then shut it again. They sat once more in awkward silence, before Soonyoung finally spoke up.

“Do you mean love like… love? Or like… _love_.”

“Like,” Wonwoo frowned, brain running a thousand miles per hour, “Can I kiss you?”

Soonyoung laughed softly, voice slightly hoarse, “Please do. And will you just hold me? You’ve put me through a lot of emotional pain in the last few days, you know that?”

Wonwoo grimaced, apologizing softly, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Come on, scoot over,” 

\--

Seungcheol cracked Soonyoung’s door open, watching as Wonwoo slid under the blankets and let Soonyoung wrap himself around Wonwoo like a koala. The grin on the leader’s face was infectious, and he would definitely be telling all of their other members why it was there. Jun owed him ten bucks, because they’d bed on when Wonwoo and Soonyoung would finally realize that the other had feelings too. Seungcheol had _technically_ cheated by setting it up, but he wasn’t going to tell Jun that. He was just glad that his members could finally be happy together, and that he could finally get that ten dollars. It was a win-win.


	9. Fired - Jisoo/Jeonghan|Seungcheol/Mingyu|Wonwoo/Hansol (hybrid AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seungcheol, Jisoo, and Hansol all work for the same company, and are delighted to bring their hybrids to work with them once a year. Mingyu, Jeonghan, and Wonwoo, their hybrids, have an interesting way to pass the time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another semi-long wait :( I'm so sorry! I wasn't feeling this one, for some reason. But I think it came out okay! I hope you enjoy it <3  
> Requested: Hii~ can I request a hybrid Wonwoo fanfic where Vernon is his ‘owner’? Like any fluff will do~  
> Also requested: Hiiii! Love your works so far c: can I request jihan ?? I like really like cat hybrid au's but there's never enough for them ;v; you can decide who you make a hybrid (you can also do both :>) thank you uwu.  
> Thank you so much for your kind feedback, and requests are always open! <3

“And you have to sit in your own chair, I don’t think I’ll get paid if you’re in my lap for the whole day.” Hansol shot a quick glance at Wonwoo then quickly paid attention to the road again, wanting to actually make it into work that day.

“I _know_ , you told me that last night.”

“Okay. Just making sure.” Hansol didn’t seem to notice the teasing smirk that graced Wonwoo’s features, instead peering around as he pulled into an employee parking space. The two stepped out of Hansol’s car, heading for the glass doors at the front of the building. Wonwoo wasn’t sure why Hansol had chosen a job that required him to sit at a desk all day, but it wasn’t his choice to criticize, so he didn’t mention it. He supposed that he’d finally be able to see if this job thing was all that it was cracked up to be, or if it was really just a waste of time. 

They made their way through the double front doors, and Hansol grabbed Wonwoo’s hand, tugging him to the left and to a stop in front of an elevator. Wonwoo ended up hating their short elevator ride, the noises that the tiny metal box was making leaving his tail stiff and his ears tense. But they made it onto the third floor safely, trekking further down the hallway and stopping in front of a closed door.

“Okay, just _please_ remember, you have to-”

“Be independent. I know. That’s three times now.” Wonwoo huffed, slipping his hand out of Hansol’s own and letting it fall to his side.

“I’m sorry! It’s just,” Hansol sighed, “I’m too new here to seem tied up in anything other than work. I don’t want them to think that I’m distracted or something.”

“I know,” Wonwoo’s voice was soft, an edge of disappointment riding it, “I understand. I just don’t know why you brought me along.”

“I have too many pictures of you on display to pretend like you didn’t exist,” Hansol mumbled, cheeks burning bright red as he thought of the printed pictures pinned to his cubicle walls.

Wonwoo tried thinking of an adequate response but he was saved (he wasn’t actually sure whether it was a good turn of events or not) by footsteps coming up from behind them, and soft bickering filling the hallway.

“-and I know you don’t like when he tackles you but he does it every year and he’s too strong for any of us to hold back so you’re just gonna have to let it happen and you are _not_ allowed to scratch him this time.”

“No! I’m gonna teach him once and for all that he shouldn’t just sprint towards people and launch himself at them. I sharpened my nails for this, you know.”

“Jeonghan! You’re not allowed to shank-” The two reached the door, nearly bumping into Hansol and Wonwoo before they finally realized that they weren’t alone, “Oh! Hi Hansol, um,” Jisoo, Hansol’s coworker glanced expectantly between him and Wonwoo, and both simultaneously prayed for the other to introduce Wonwoo.

Finally Hansol spoke up, “Um, this is Wonwoo, he’s my cat hybrid.” 

Jisoo’s eyes lit up, a smile flitting onto his face, “Ah, I should have recognized you! I’ve seen your picture.” 

Wonwoo hummed softly in acknowledgement, not quite knowing how to express how mortifyingly embarrassed he was at the supposed fact that his pictures were plastered all around Hansol’s cubicle. He was saved from having to answer, however, as footsteps thudded towards the door from the other side and Jeonghan tensed expectantly. 

“Oh no.”

“What’s-” The door burst open, cutting Wonwoo’s question off and nearly smacking him in the face. Wonwoo couldn’t even see who was behind it at first, but then the person rocketed towards Jeonghan, wrapping their arms tightly around the cat hybrid’s waist and lifting him effortlessly off of the ground. 

“You came!” The attacker seemed not to notice (or ignored) Jeonghan’s frantic squirming, only squeezing the cat hybrid tighter out of excitement. 

“I come every year! Let me go!” Jeonghan groaned, trying in vain to pry his assailant’s arms off of him. 

“Hey! What did we talk about?” Wonwoo was too distracted by the possible mugging that was happening in front of him to have noticed yet another person come running from behind the door. The man was tall and his hair was dyed a soft silver, flopping into his eyes as he managed to wrestle the overenthusiastic attacker off of Jeonghan.

Wonwoo could finally see their face clearly, grimacing when he realized that the man was at _least_ six feet tall and a dog hybrid at that. Not a good combination in his eyes. Wonwoo subtly slid himself behind Hansol, putting as much distance between him and the overexcited attacker. 

The silver-haired human (Wonwoo presumed he was also an employee) had to stand on his tiptoes to rest his chin on the dog hybrid’s shoulder, but he did so nonetheless.

“You weren’t supposed to run, or tackle anyone this time, remember?” The man’s voice was soft and soothing and it had the dog hybrid visibly relaxing, muscles no longer tensed and ready to spring.

“But I wanted a hug! I missed him.” The dog hybrid wriggled in the man’s hold, turning to face him (read: stare down at him), and pout picturesquely at him.

“I know, but hugs don’t have to cause bruises. Actually, they shouldn’t.” The dog hybrid was given a soft kiss on the cheek then released, “Go apologize, Mingyu.”

Wonwoo knew for a fact that if he had to be physically restrained he’d be so embarrassed that he’d want to die, but ‘Mingyu’ seemed perfectly fine, tail swaying happily behind him as he turned to face Jeonghan again.

“Sorry! I got too excited.” Mingyu seemed not to notice Wonwoo, and the cat hybrid celebrated a small personal victory. That is, until (probably) his owner turned to greet them with a smile, holding out a hand for Wonwoo to shake.

“Hi! I’m Seungcheol, I work here too. You’re Wonwoo, then?”

Wonwoo was momentarily stunned that people here knew his name, opening and closing his mouth a few times before settling on a shaky nod, taking Seungcheol’s hand in his own and shaking it. By then, Mingyu was _very_ aware of his presence, grinning widely at them and hardly hesitating at all before enveloping Hansol in a hug, much softer than the one he’d tortured Jeonghan with but still entirely too overbearing for having just met.

“Hi! You’re new, right? Cheollie mentioned you! I was hoping you’d bring your hybrid.” Mingyu absolutely towered over Hansol, who let a friendly smile break out over his face as he nodded.

“Yeah, that’s me. And this is Wonwoo.” Hansol reached behind him, gripping Wonwoo’s wrist in his hand and tugging the cat hybrid forwards.

Mingyu happily let Hansol go to drape himself over Wonwoo instead, and the cat hybrid caught an apologetic glance from Jeonghan over Mingyu’s shoulder. What Jeonghan had been held captive in was definitely much rougher than this, as the hug that Wonwoo was momentarily trapped in was admittedly warm and cozy. 

Mingyu had to be prompted to pull away, grabbing one of Wonwoo’s hands and lunging for one of Jeonghan’s in his other. 

“Let’s go!” Mingyu led the way into the room that he’d come rocketing out of only minutes earlier, tugging Wonwoo and Jeonghan behind him. Wonwoo vaguely heard chuckles from the men behind him but he was too preoccupied with not tripping over his own feet to care. 

\--

Wonwoo was informed by Mingyu and Jeonghan that, as it was relatively boring sitting in a chair (despite being able to spin it) all day, that both hybrids had come up with a game, a sort of challenge over the past few years that they’d been permitted to come to this hybrid-friendly day. 

The game was eloquently named (by Mingyu): Who can distract their owner the most, enough so that they believe they are in jeopardy of losing their jobs. Apparently, Mingyu was friends with a few of the higher-ups (Mingyu seemed to be friends with everyone), and they were in on it too. Somehow, Seungcheol and Jisoo hadn’t picked up on it in years prior. 

“You should play with us! Did he warn you to stay independent today?” Jeonghan was currently draped over a vacant desk, back pressed up against the wood while Mingyu spun in the chair accompanying it. Wonwoo nodded up at them from the floor, hearing their scoffs in response.

“They’re always so worried. Listen, you can’t tell him about it if he asks, just say you missed him or something. That ruins the fun.” Jeonghan rolled over so that he was laying on his stomach, raising an eyebrow at Wonwoo, “So, are you playing?”

“Um,” Wonwoo looked over at Hansol who’s neck looked like it was about to snap from being bent downwards at such an extreme angle, “I dunno. I don’t want him to worry.”

“Aw, come on! They won’t get in trouble, I promise.”

Jeonghan rolled off of the table completely, landing on his feet and dusting himself off. Mingyu stood as well, offering Wonwoo a hand from where he stood towering over the cat hybrid on the floor.

“Well?”

Wonwoo gave Hansol (or the back of his head) one last glance, deciding that a little fun was nothing to be ashamed of, and nodding. He let Mingyu pull him off of the floor, letting a soft grin slip onto his face as he bid the others goodbye.

He padded up beside Hansol’s chair, poking the back of the man’s neck gently. Hansol jolted upright, looking back at Wonwoo with wide eyes that slowly became less anxious as he had time to react.

“Do you need something?” Hansol shot worried glances behind Wonwoo towards their supervisors offices, and Wonwoo felt a soft pang of guilt hit his chest. 

“Um, can I sit with you?” Wonwoo kept his voice low, overhearing Jisoo’s already-frustrated bargaining with Jeonghan to _please_ get off of his keyboard because he was _not_ a real cat and Jisoo _needed_ to work. 

“ _Wonwoo_ ,” Hansol’s eyes were already growing wide again with panic, “Would you go sit with everyone else right now? I told you, I have to work.”

“I _know_ , but Jeonghan and Mingyu are, um,” Wonwoo glanced over to the latter who was currently worming his way under Seungcheol’s arm as the man attempted to continue typing, “Preoccupied.”

Hansol glanced at each other hybrid in the room, sighing in defeat as he realized that Wonwoo was right. He nodded, smiling apologetically at his cat hybrid as Wonwoo pulled up an extra chair. 

“Sorry I know it’s boring now, but I gotta work.”

Wonwoo nodded absentmindedly, letting Hansol get back to working before rolling forwards in his chair to rest his chin on Hansol’s shoulder. Hansol stiffened, turning to press his forehead to Wonwoo’s own for a split second before a blush broke out over his cheeks and he turned back to face his computer screen. 

Wonwoo caught Mingyu’s eye as the dog hybrid finally was able to wriggle his way into Seungcheol’s lap, catching the grin that Mingyu sent him. Wonwoo pressed on, finally giving up on feeling guilty in the slightest.

“Hansol,” he hummed, keeping his voice as low as possible, “I’m bored.”

It was barely enough to get Hansol’s head out of his computer screen, but the man’s cheeks heated up once more as he frantically glanced around.

“Wonwoo, can you go on your phone or something? I really can’t be distracted this entire time.”

“My phone is dead.” Wonwoo brandished his powered-off phone, tossing it on the desk beside him with a thunk. 

“Use mine,” Hansol’s voice was already gaining an edge to it, a sharp tone that almost made Wonwoo chicken out. But then Wonwoo saw Hansol’s lockscreen, a picture of the cat hybrid himself with a mouthful of food looking _very_ unattractive, and the hunt was back on. 

He busied himself on the phone for a few moments, logging in to random games and collecting daily bonuses before he could plausibly appear bored again. He sighed, letting his head plop down onto the desk beside Hansol’s hand and waiting for a moment to see if he got a reaction.

When none came, Wonwoo sighed again, reaching up to grab hold of one of Hansol’s wrists and keep it in place, “Pet me.”

There was another panicked glare shot at Wonwoo, then a hand gently raking through the hybrid’s hair and over his ears. Hansol still persevered, pecking at his computer keys with one hand while the other was occupied. Wonwoo somehow wormed his way under Hansol’s free arm and let his head lay in Hansol’s lap, looking up at the human with a mischievous grin. 

“Wonwoo,” Hansol hissed, ducking his head down to meet the cat hybrid’s eyes, “Not now. When we get home, you can-”

“No,” Wonwoo whined, “Now, please? I’m not stopping you from working!”

“Yes you are!” The hand was lifted from Wonwoo’s hair and the cat hybrid was already chasing after it, “I’m gonna lose my job if I ignore work for the entire day!”

“ S’then don’t ignore it.” Wonwoo mused, letting his eyes slip shut as he dragged Hansol’s hand back to rest in his hair.

“ _Wonwoo_ ,” Hansol shot another, somehow less intimidating by the second, warning glare at Wonwoo, cheeks ablaze in embarrassment. Wonwoo simply looked away, a small, triumphant grin on his face as he caught Jeonghan’s eye from across the room.

Jeonghan was still bent backwards over Jisoo’s computer, head resting awkwardly on the base of the monitor. His hands were splayed out to his sides, cementing himself atop the desk and over the keyboard.

Jisoo glared down at him, clearly as unimpressed as he’d possibly ever been. Every time he tried slipping a hand under Jeonghan’s back to pull the cat hybrid up he was swatted away, or whined at in a voice that was just barely too loud, ‘ _You’re hurting me!_ ’.

This obviously attracted some concerned stares from other employees, and Jeonghan was left to triumphantly arch back against the keyboard. 

“Alright, you win this round. But, I’m taking my lunch break now.” Jisoo abruptly stood from his chair, sending Jeonghan, who’s calves had been resting on Jisoo’s lap, tumbling to the floor. Jeonghan shrieked, but no one bothered to look anymore, as they’d already cautiously regarded the whiny cat hybrid to be sure that he wasn’t actually being hurt before. 

Jeonghan stared up at Jisoo from the floor, betrayal written all over his face. Jisoo merely offered him a hand, helping the cat hybrid up onto his feet and intertwining their hands, tugging Jeonghan along to their kitchen.

Wonwoo tried to stifle his laugh as he watched Jeonghan fall but it was no use, and he was left to bury his face in Hansol’s stomach so as not to attract any attention. Mingyu was not so triumphant in hiding his giggles, though, laughing entirely too loudly, entirely too close to Seungcheol’s ear. Wonwoo was starting to feel bad for the man.

Jeonghan shot them both menacing glares as he was pulled behind Jisoo, though he cracked a smile at Wonwoo that he did not offer to Mingyu. Seungcheol winced at Mingyu’s volume, covering the dog hybrid’s mouth and peering back to see what he’d been laughing at. He watched Jisoo and Jeonghan disappear into the kitchen, sighing and shutting his computer off as well. He grabbed Mingyu’s hand, helping the dog hybrid off of his lap and making their way over to Hansol’s desk.

“Hey, Jisoo just went on his lunch break and I think we need one too,” He lifted Mingyu’s hand, still intertwined with his own, “Y’wanna come?”

Hansol sputtered for a moment, ultimately shutting his mouth and prodding Wonwoo gently, lifting the cat hybrid out of his lap. Mingyu happily latched onto Wonwoo, running ahead of the two employees and ducking into the kitchen. Wonwoo barely had time to look back at Hansol before he was being tugged completely out of their sight, tucked into a private corner of the kitchen.

“You’re really good at this!” Mingyu grinned, glancing back through the small gap in the blinds to see Hansol making conversation with Seungcheol while the two of them made their way to the kitchen.

“He’s really easily flustered.” Wonwoo mumbles, recalling how quickly Hansol’s cheeks blushed bright red.

“I can tell. He seems shy.” The door cracked open and Mingyu ended his sentence there, busying himself by digging through the fridge that was beside him. Wonwoo stood there awkwardly, stepping out into the main kitchen area and exchanging soft grins with Jeonghan.

Wonwoo saw Hansol talking to Seungcheol, not really knowing what they were talking about, but not wanting to interrupt a conversation that might make Hansol feel more included at the new company. He simply sat quietly, hesitantly taking a wrapped sandwich from Mingyu that was sitting in a large tray on the counter.

“They got them for everyone, you can take one.” Jisoo sat down across from Wonwoo, offering the cat hybrid a soft smile. Wonwoo mumbled a thank you, taking a bite of his sandwich so that no one would ask him any questions.

Eventually, Seungcheol and Hansol made their way over to the table with everyone else, sitting beside their hybrids and falling silent as everyone began eating. Wonwoo finished first, no longer having an excuse to not speak, so he let his head slump over onto Hansol’s shoulder.

Jeonghan finished second, already seeing how fast he could worm his way into Jisoo’s lap without being reprimanded and sent back to his own chair. He got to stay for all of five seconds before he was shooed back to his own seat, sighing in defeat and sitting dejectedly in his own seat for the rest of their lunch break.

\--

The rest of the day was more of the same, protests just a little too loud and panicked glances shot backwards at supervisors’ desks. But, of course, no one was fired, and all three hybrids walked out with triumphant grins over their cheeks, hand-in-hand with their owners. The employees bid tired goodbyes to each other, each getting into their separate cars and leaving with their hybrids.

\--

“I swear, you do this every year, and every year, I fall for your ‘ _Not this year!_ ’ bs. When am I gonna learn?” Jisoo sighed, eyes focused on the road in front of him and deliberately not wavering to Jeonghan who was sitting beside him. The apologetic look on the cat hybrid’s face was convincing, but not sincere.

“I just got lonely!”

“You’re with me literally 24/7 _except_ when I’m at work, how do you get lonely? And I was sitting right next to you!”

“But it wasn’t close enough.” 

Jisoo sighed, “You’re gonna get me fired, you know.”

“Then you could spend more time with me.” Jisoo didn’t have to turn his head to know that Jeonghan’s signature shit-eating grin was slapped onto his face.

“If that’s your goal, I’m never bringing you again.”

\--

“Wonwoo! What the hell?!” The second the car doors were shut Hansol was rounding on the cat hybrid, eyes wide, though there was more panic than anger alight in them. 

“What?” Wonwoo’s smile was calm, cool, and collected, though there was a tinge of satisfaction behind it.

“Oh my god,” Hansol sighed, letting his head slump forwards so that it was resting on the steering wheel, “I’m gonna get fired.”

“You’re not gonna get fired!” Wonwoo rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest, “No one’s gonna get fired because I sat in your lap.”

“But I’m new, and I don’t know how strict they are about that kind of stuff!”

“Listen, Jeonghan and Mingyu were doing much worse, and if they fire you, they have to fire everyone else as well. And they’re not gonna lose three employees over something like that. You’re gonna be fine.” Half of Wonwoo wanted to just expose their game, so that Hansol would shut up and stop worrying so much, but he didn’t exactly want to be on the bad side of hybrids that he’d be seeing a lot more of for years to come.

“I guess so.” Hansol mumbled, falling silent as they continued their drive home.

\--

“You’re staying home next year.” 

Mingyu’s protests were immediately up in the air, and Seungcheol cracked a small, teasing smile.

“No, please! No, I won’t do it again next year! I promise!”

“That’s what you said this past year! You’re gonna get me fired, you know.”

“That’s what you say every year, and it never happens.” Mingyu crossed his arms over his chest, “And you can’t keep me from coming! Jeonghan will miss me. Now Wonwoo too.”

Seungcheol snorted, knowing full well that the last thing the grumpy cat hybrid would be doing was _missing_ Mingyu if he was no longer present at their company’s annual hybrid day. But, he wasn’t going to say anything.

\--

“Stop reading and pay attention to me,” Jeonghan tore Jisoo’s book out of the man’s hands, tossing it blindly behind him and draping himself over the man’s chest. Jisoo sighed, knowing that Jeonghan would not stop until his requests were fulfilled, and began running a hand through the hybrid’s hair.

“You know, we spent time together literally all day,” Jisoo mused, “Because you wouldn’t leave me alone. And you’re still lonely?”

“I’m always lonely.” Jeonghan mumbled, eyes already closed and breath evening out against Jisoo’s chest. The man sighed, rolling his eyes despite the fond smile on his face as he pressed a soft kiss to Jeonghan’s forehead, letting himself relax after their day of stress.

\--

“Hey, about _next year’s_ event,” Wonwoo slid under the comforter on the bed, immediately wrapping himself tight in the blankets, “Don’t let Mingyu greet me. I thought I was going to die.”

Hansol chuckled, trying to ration the tiny amount of blanket that Wonwoo had left him with, “Yeah, Seungcheol warned us about that. I didn’t know he was serious, though. Thought he was just trying to be funny.”

“Nothing funny about a broken rib.” Wonwoo remembered how tight Mingyu’s hug had been, thanking his lucky stars that he wasn’t in Jeonghan’s place.

“And here I thought you liked hugs.” Hansol reached over to pinch Wonwoo’s cheek, hissing in pain when Wonwoo scratched him lightly.

“I do like hugs. I don’t like my bones being broken.”

“Well, if I promise not to break your bones, can I hug you?”

“Only if you stop talking and let me sleep.” Wonwoo let Hansol tug him into his arms, eyes falling shut as he buried his face into Hansol’s chest and felt himself drifting off.

\--

“Can we invite Jeonghan and Wonwoo over for dinner next week?” Mingyu somehow wriggled his way even closer to Seungcheol under their covers, resting his head on the man’s chest and grinning excitedly up at him.

“Um, we can invite them, yeah. But that doesn’t mean they’ll come.”

“They will! We’re friends now.” Mingyu smiled, hoisting himself up and onto Seungcheol’s chest entirely, one leg on either side of the man’s torso.

“I’m glad you’re making friends.” Seungcheol smiled adoringly at the dog hybrid, brushing Mingyu’s hair out of his eyes and kissing one of the dog hybrid’s floppy ears.

“Me too, goodnight Cheollie.” With that, Mingyu’s eyes were shut and he was dozing off, arms and legs wrapped tightly around Seungcheol, who merely laughed, patting the hybrid’s head softly.

“Goodnight, Mingyu.”


	10. Theater Kids (Seokhao)(Friendstolovers)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I hope this makes someone happy, in this rough time. I'm sorry this took me a month to write, as much as I loved the request, it wasn't flowing like it usually does. Thanks for understanding <3 Requests are always open, thank you for being patient with me :) <3  
> This is lowkey theater kid slander but i love theater kids i just needed to for the story-  
> Requested: I’d personally really love to see a seokhao fic, friends to lovers y’know? Oh and tsundere Minghao is a big yes for me ㅇㅅㅇ I’m so deprived of seokhao rn :,(( I was thinking of a setting in which both Seokmin and Minghao are theatre majors in college, they’re just the type of couple I’d think of as being very much into theatre ^^ Please let me know if you’d like more detail or clarification, Tysm for taking your time and writing people’s requests <3

If there was one thing that Minghao hated more than anything else, it was theater kids. They were always so pompous, they thought they were _quirky_ , and almost none of them could actually act. 

Which is why it was so strange that he himself was a theater kid. Not an actor, not a dancer (though he was talented in that field), not even a frequent understudy to anyone’s roles. No, he was a stagehand. He prepped costumes and sets, figured out lighting and cues, and then sat backstage for a grueling 2-3 hours every few months, biting the inside of his cheek and hoping that nothing went wrong. 

That was another reason he hated theater kids. They never thanked him. He worked a hundred times harder than they ever did, all they had to do was memorize and recite lines! He could do that, and he could do it better than they could. He had the real brunt of the labor as a stagehand, and he got no recognition for it. 

Of course, there were always exceptions. Minghao just couldn’t possibly hate one of the most prominent theater kids, though that type tended to be the most pompous. 

Lee Seokmin was just incapable of being hated.

\--

_Opening night was arguably the most stressful 2-3 hours of Minghao’s life, and it happened far too often for his liking. After his first one, he’d have preferred never to sit through another one again. But, as a costumer among many other things, he needed to be around in case someone had problems with their outfits._

_It was ten minutes before the curtain was due to open, and Minghao had just finished stitching up a tear in the side of someone’s corset. They really should have invested in stronger material for those, especially as they were more prone to tearing than almost any other garment in the entire production._

_He sent the actress off with a mumbled,_ ‘good luck’ _, and slumped down in his rickety folding chair. The needle in his hand was tossed haphazardly onto a table beside him (maybe not the best idea in the world), and he debated checking the sets one last time before the curtain rose. It couldn’t hurt._

_He stood, weaving between actors and actresses alike, all practicing the lines they remembered the least, and even a few backup dancers running through their numbers one last time. All of the opening sets looked fine, and so did the rolling ones they’d bring in for the majority of the other numbers in the play, but there was one last one in a back room, for the final wedding scene, and it had been falling apart fairly frequently. Minghao slipped down a hallway, cracking the door open and stepped inside, seeing that the clock on their chapel set had, in fact, fallen off again. He sighed, picking up a screwdriver from a shelf beside him and ripping the tape off of the back of the clock. So much for industrial strength. He had to stand on the base of the chapel to reach where the clock needed to be affixed, and in doing so, he could see over the top of the wooden structure. There was someone hunched over behind the set, arms around their neck as their face was buried in their knees. Minghao had a feeling that he wasn’t supposed to have found them._

_“Uh,” Oh-so-eloquently, Minghao let the person know that they’d been found, eyes widening slightly when the person lifted their head from their knees._

_“I’m sorry! I know I’m not supposed to be here,” It was Lee Seokmin, the play’s lead, with messy tears streaked down his cheeks and eyes swollen red, “I just, um, needed a minute.”_

_Minghao debated what to say for a moment, finally crouching down beside Seokmin._

_“Listen, um, if you need to talk about anything…”_

_Seokmin sniffled, thankfully not using his costume sleeve to wipe his nose, “I just don’t feel good.”_

_“Like, you think you’re getting sick?”_

_“No. I don’t feel good about tonight. I don’t think I can do it.”_

_This was relatively alarming to Minghao, seeing as the curtain was to be lifted in about six minutes, and there wasn’t really time to switch to Seokmin’s understudy._

_“What do you think you can’t do?”_

_“I don’t know if I can hit the high note in the second number. It’s hard.”_

_“It’s hard, but you’re good at singing. Trust me, we’ve all heard you before.”_

_“I’m just having an off-day, I guess.” There was a muffled call from somewhere down the hallway, that they only had five minutes left before the show. Seokmin sighed, wiping his eyes one last time and accidentally smearing some of the eyeliner that was lining his lower lids. Minghao thankfully had an eyeliner pen on hand, lifting the actor’s chin and carefully lining his eyes once more._

_Seokmin kept entirely still, thanking Minghao softly when the man was done with his makeup. Minghao nodded, standing and holding a hand out for Seokmin to take._

_Seokmin let Minghao help him to his feet, sighing when he heard someone shout for him._

_“I should go. Um,” Seokmin paused, looking back at Minghao one last time before leaving, “Thank you.”_

_Minghao nodded, strangely sad to let Seokmin just get up and leave while he was still freaking out. But, he wasn’t lying before, he’d heard the actor sing before, and there was no way he’d mess up that note._

_Seokmin finally left and Minghao could hear the audience applauding only minutes later, meaning that the curtains had risen and the show was starting. He quickly fixed the broken set, shutting the door and hoping against hope that no freshman who’d been denied the lead role would go and destroy it. It happened way too often._

_Minghao thought about going and sitting behind the costuming rack, where he normally hid on his phone during shows so that he could distract himself from worrying too much, but then he heard the telltale first notes of the second musical number of the play. He felt obligated to go and watch Seokmin perform, to mentally root for the man as if he could manifest a good outcome to the song. He slipped his phone into his pocket, rushing down the hallway and nearly tripping over a few waiting backup dancers as he came to a stop just out of the audience’s view._

_If Minghao hadn’t seen Seokmin crying ten minutes earlier with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed that it had happened. The actor’s smile was practically blinding, voice clear and free of strain as he sang about hope, love, friendship, or whatever the hell the play was about. Minghao tried not to pay attention to most of that, or else he got too involved and wanted to be more attached to the actors who played his favorite roles._

_At one point, Seokmin had to duck behind one of the secondary characters while they sang their lines, and he happened to meet Minghao’s eyes as he turned to assume his position. Minghao smiled and waved, an action that surprised even himself, but it gave Seokmin’s smile extra depth, so Minghao didn’t beat himself up too much about it._

_The high note in the song went by as smoothly as Minghao had ever seen it go, strong and clear and sending a shiver up Minghao’s spine. The stage hand chose to ignore the last part of that, backing up when he remembered that Seokmin’s stage directions were to duck backstage for a quickchange. The last thing he needed to do was interfere with the show. He watched Seokmin rush off stage, eyes widening and hands coming up to helplessly shove at the bone-crushing hug he was immediately trapped in._

_“Thank you,” The hug was gone as quickly as it had happened, and Seokmin was running off to the costuming rack, stripping his blazer and loosening his tie as he ran. Minghao stood frozen for a moment, cheeks ablaze as much as he tried to hide it. No one seemed to look twice at the strange at of affection, that their lead actor had just practically tackled a stage hand, so Minghao busied himself on his phone, mobile-ordering the best bouquet he could find on their school’s florist’s website._

_Seokmin received a lot of flowers after the show that night, but perhaps the biggest ‘congratulations’ bouquet came from Minghao. And it meant the most too, because no one else quite knew why Seokmin deserved_ that _big of a bunch of roses for performing just as well as he normally did._

\--

Painting sets was another one of Minghao’s fortés. Really, if he was being honest, most anything was his forté. He was working on a street sign at the moment, one that they repainted and reused for almost every single play that they performed. Block lettering was hard to keep straight, but the names of the streets were easy enough to handle.

_Maple_

_Cherry_

_Birch_

Did these 20th century playwrights not have any ideas other than wood?

Minghao was sitting alone in their set room, on the floor with a bucket of paint and a small tarp over his lap, which probably wasn’t good for his respiratory system. But, he also wasn’t gonna do anything about that. He was facing away from the door, but had music playing at almost no volume, which was why he was so surprised when he didn’t hear the door open and footsteps approach him.

“Guess who,” Hands slid over Minghao’s eyes and the stage hand sighed, hoping that he hadn’t smeared any of the paint in his momentary confusion.

“The only person who ever talks to me?”

“Correct!” Seokmin’s hands were removed and Minghao could clearly see the man now, upside down and hovering over Minghao’s project, smiling widely as always.

“Doesn’t that hurt your back?” Minghao focused on the street sign again, letting Seokmin straighten up from where he was bent over Minghao.

“Not as much as this probably hurts yours.” Seokmin gently tapped the base of Minghao’s spine, reminding the man that he was basically folded in half over the prop.

Minghao stayed silent, though he took Seokmin’s silent advice and straightened up. 

“So, are you gonna watch me perform Friday?” Seokmin sat on Minghao’s left, up against the wall and with his legs stretched over Minghao’s own. 

“I watch you perform every week,” Minghao mused, biting the inside of his cheek to stop a smile from spreading over his cheeks.

“But you don’t _watch_ me! You sit backstage on your phone.” 

That… was not a lie. Minghao rarely ever watched the performances, but he was always there for them! It just wasn’t as fun watching a play be performed from the side.

“Do you want me to get tickets instead?”

“No,” Seokmin huffed, “Because then we can’t talk during my breaks. Just don’t be on your phone!”

“Seokmin,” Minghao sighed, “You have no idea how insufferably boring it is to see people’s sides for two hours. It’s not like watching a play. It’s awful.”

“But it can’t be boring! It’s me!”

Minghao did have to admit that since he’d known Seokmin, not one single second of his life had been boring. It was always _‘let’s go get ice cream’_ this, or _‘please come over because I got my head stuck in the microwave again and I need you to pry it out’_ that. (That one happened more often that Minghao ever would have thought it would.)

“Okay, okay, I’ll watch you. But _only_ your parts, I don’t care about anyone else in the production.” Minghao had not calculated the exact meaning of his words until it was rather late, realizing that he’d just admitted to caring about Seokmin. He didn’t care! Did he?

Seokmin smiled, seemingly not realizing that Xu Minghao had just admitted to having feelings. He fondly pat the younger’s head, ignoring the pointed glare he was sent in return and rising to his feet once more.

‘I gotta go practice. Will you get dinner with me later?”

“I can’t,” Something inside of Minghao darkened at the realization that, not only had he just been asked out to eat by Lee Seokmin in a way that was probably the opposite of what he wanted, but he couldn’t even go, “I’ve gotta finish the sets. Show’s Friday. That only leaves me tomorrow, so I’m staying here as long as they’ll let me.”

Seokmin huffed, plopping back down beside the stage hand, “Why do you do this to yourself? You’ve had these designs for weeks, why are they just now being painted?”

“Because,” Minghao gestured to Seokmin with his paintbrush, “I don’t like doing things until the last minute.”

Seokmin rolled his eyes, “Then don’t complain about being stressed. I’ll just order us something.” Seokmin picked up his phone, “Do you want chinese or greek?”

\--

Twenty minutes passed and had the pair sat up against the wall of the tiny prop room, stuffing their faces full of imitation chinese food. It was good, it just wasn’t exactly authentic.

“Y’know,” Seokmin’s cheeks were puffy and stuffed with chicken, which surprisingly didn’t look as disgusting as it should have to Minghao, “If I weren’t here, you wouldn’t have fed yourself. You should be more thankful for me.”

“If you weren’t here,” Minghao fixed Seokmin with a glare, “I would have already finished this work. You come in here every ten minutes and make me paint your face.”

“Will you make me a bunny this time?” 

“No! Your stylists keep getting mad at me, I’m not allowed to anymore! Plus, this isn’t face paint! It’s gonna really damage your skin if we keep putting in on there!”

Seokmin huffed, shoveling another piece of chicken into his mouth, “You’re no fun.”

\--

Minghao flopped into his bulky, barely padded theater seat on the night of the premiere showing, clutching the playbill they’d given him so tight that it was beginning to fold in half. His throat was already starting to tighten, anxiety clogging it as he thought of all of the things that could possibly go wrong on stage that night. 

There were a group of freshmen seated right next to him that he _knew_ were never going to shut up, bracing himself for a long night of not-so-hushed whispers and cheers when they weren’t supposed to take place.

The lights finally dimmed and Minghao slipped his phone into his jacket pocket, silencing it so as not to disturb the show. Seokmin didn’t even make an appearance until the second musical number, so he had some time to kill staring down into the pit and watching the orchestra play.

\--

It was strangely nerve-wracking not to have a reassuring smile from Minghao before walking onto the stage. Seokmin felt his chest knot slightly, but he pushed the feeling down and tried to spot the stage hand’s face from off-stage. He couldn’t tell, was that Minghao’s mullet? 

Seokmin’s entrance came and he stepped out onto stage, striding to the music and reciting his lines on cue. He played an insecure knight tasked with saving the self-sufficient princess from a dragon that the princess eventually flew away on, never to be seen again. It was an interesting story, and right now Seokmin was really feeling the insecure part.

He was wearing heeled boots, and he really had to give people credit for wearing them on a daily basis, when he could barely step without falling. Still, some invisible force kept him from falling on his ass during his dance numbers, maybe the opening-night-fairy.

Well, until it didn’t.

Seokmin registered his change of perspective before anything else, eyes now locked onto a rack of lights on the ceiling rather than the blinding glow coming off of the stage’s lighting system. Then came the pain. His ankle erupted in searing pain, causing such an awful tearing sensation that he was sure it had broken clean off. He heard vague gasps from the audience and one long, overpowering scream, and it took him several seconds to realize that his mouth was open, it was _him_ screaming.

He felt hands prodding at him everywhere, under the arms, up against his sides, trying to lift his head from the ground, but only one pair succeeded in actually lifting him anywhere. He felt himself be dragged backwards, ankle twinging even more as his foot moved slightly across the floor. 

Seokmin couldn’t tell who was behind him, arms wrapped around his tummy and head sandwiched beside his own, but he desperately needed something to hold on to, something to possibly distract him from the blinding pain in his ankle, so he grabbed their legs as tight as he could. He heard the person speaking to him, knew that he knew the voice from somewhere but had absolutely no brainpower to devote to anything but thinking about how awfully his ankle hurt, so he said nothing, clenching his teeth and trying to stop his chest from heaving with sobs so that his ankle wasn’t moved around more. All he could do was sit there in pain.

\--

Minghao was pretty sure that he’d kicked one of those asshole freshman in the face during his flying leap over the front row of seats, onto the sidesteps of the stage, and landed on his knees in front of the injured lead actor. His knees, those were probably injured too. Not as bad as Seokmin’s ankle though. Seokmin’s ankle that he could see _bone_ peeking out of, making his stomach churn as he tugged the older man into his arms.

“It’s fine, you’re okay, it’s gonna be _fine_ ,” Minghao caught a glimpse of Seokmin’s ankle again, physically cringing as he forced bile down his throat, “Somebody close the curtain- stop touching him! -and call an ambulance!”

Seokmin’s fingers were digging into Minghao’s thighs as he laid back against Minghao’s chest, eyes shut tight and head tucked flush against the younger’s chest. Minghao’s hands clasped tight around Seokmin’s tummy, trying to ground himself and not focus on the fact that his best friend’s (best friend? He didn’t have much time to think that one over,) leg was split open and falling off. 

The blue lights that had previously bathed the musical in nighttime were casting a ghostly shadow over the crew scrambling around backstage, frantically calling parents and staff and an ambulance. Minghao (somehow, he can’t quite remember how he came into possession of it), had Seokmin’s phone password, so he’d let the man’s parents know that their son had snapped his foot off once as soon as he had a chance. Probably after he carted his friend’s body into an ambulance and shipped him off to the emergency room. He wasn’t looking forward to it.

\--

Seokmin tried rolling over in his bed, still drowsy and half asleep, but something seemed to be keeping one of his legs in place. He groaned, trying to tug his leg free of whatever was trapping him (probably his blanket), without opening his eyes so that he could peacefully fall back to sleep, but he just couldn’t get it. He was about to open his eyes when he felt a hand grasp his shoulder, rolling him back over onto his back and twisting his leg slightly. 

His eyes shot open wide; there was not normally anyone in his apartment while he was sleeping. 

It was not, however, a robber, a murderer, or (an off chance), his mother at the foot of his bed, readjusting his sleeping position. It was Minghao. And he was not in his apartment. And his leg was not tangled in his blanket. His leg was in a cast, slung up to the ceiling. Of the hospital room he was in. He was in the hospital. 

It took Seokmin a total of two seconds to begin freaking out.

“What happened?! Why am I in the hospital, am I dying?! Am i already dead?!”

Minghao had opened his mouth to respond, shutting it promptly after and fixing Seokmin with an unsettlingly disapproving glare, “Yes, you’re dead. In the hospital. You know, that hospital you’re always hearing about in the afterlife?”

Seokmin noted that his throat was disgustingly dry as he tried swallowing, hoisting himself up onto his elbows and looking around wearily. 

“What happened?” He repeated his question, looking at his leg with apprehension, as though it would sentiently swing back and hit him in the face.

“You fell. And broke your ankle. It was,” Minghao recalled seeing his friend’s literal bone, “Not pretty.”

“Oh my god, I was on stage, wasn’t I?” Seokmin’s face twisted into a worried frown, eyebrows scrunching together as he stared up at Minghao.

“Yeah, but-”

“Did the rest of the show go okay?”

“- what…?”

“The show! Did my understudy get on stage quick enough and take over?”

“Um, the show was canceled.”

“What?! But, that’s why we have understudies!” Seokmin looked like Minghao had just told him that the school had personally, one by one, thrown every guest out into the parking lot and screamed at them to leave.

“Seokmin, there was blood on the stage, and little kids were crying. There was no saving it. They got free tickets, and your understudy is gonna come in at that show.”

Seokmin seemed to deflate, eyes downcast and hands joined in his lap, “Oh.”

“The doctor said you’d be okay by the next play, next year.”

“That’s good,” Seokmin mumbled, “I feel bad now.”

“You _what_?”

“I feel bad. For ruining the show. They all had to go home. It wasn’t even ten minutes in, I-”

“You are not telling me that you feel bad for breaking your ankle because some parents and their kids had to drive ten minutes back home with complimentary tickets to next week’s show, are you?”

“I think I’m supposed to answer no to that…”

“Of course you’re supposed to- Seokmin! You broke your ankle, we could see your bone! You don’t have to be sorry, if anything, it’s my fault, I’m the costumer, I gave you those boots.”

“But you didn’t know I would trip! It’s not your fault.” Seokmin’s hand shot out to grab Minghao’s, warm to the touch even though he’d been unconscious for hours prior. Minghao had the sudden urge to tear his hand away, but he didn’t act on it, instead sitting in the chair beside Seokmin’s bed.

“Well if I’m not to blame then you’re not either. It was a freak accident. Just rest, so that you can come back soon.”

Seokmin nodded, definitely not in any hurry to let Minghao’s hand go, “Minghao? What happened after I fell?”

“Uh,” Minghao tried to recall anything besides his friend’s injured form, managing to recall a bit, “Everyone was crowding around you, then we got the curtain down and I had someone call an ambulance. When they got here they let me ride in the back with you, so that you had someone to hold onto.”

Seokmin’s head ducked back down to stare at his lap, cheeks flushing, “Oh.”

“Is there.. Something wrong with that?”

“I just-” Seokmin bit the inside of his cheek, staring anywhere but Minghao’s eyes, “Were you the one that I was leaning up against? After I fell?”

“Yeah,” Minghao recalled the death grip that Seokmin had managed to get on his thighs earlier, there would probably be bruises later.

“ _Oh._ ” Seokmin somehow seemed even more embarrassed, letting Minghao’s hand go as he clasped his together in his lap instead.

“Dude, are you okay? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know! I don’t know,” Seokmin’s eyes glossed over with tears and it made Minghao’s stomach sink.

“Does your leg hurt or something? I can call the doctor,” Minghao stood to punch the ‘call nurse’ button at the other end of Seokmin’s bed, but the injured man lunged forward, grabbing the hem of Minghao’s jacket and yanking him back.

“No! No, my leg is fine.” Seokmin and Minghao’s eyes were equally wide as they stared at each other in silence, Seokmin’s hand still hooked under the hem of Minghao’s shirt.

“What’s going on then?”

“I,” The tears that were gathered in Seokmin’s eyes finally fell down his cheeks, “I _really_ liked having you hug me earlier.”

“What?”

“You said it was you that held me until the ambulance got there, right?”

“Yeah, but-”

“I liked it. I think I liked it a lot.”

“I… Okay, well- I mean, that’s good?”

“No!” Seokmin burst into full blown sobs, burying his face in his hands, “No, it’s not good! It’s not good at all!”

“What do you mean? You said you liked it? Doesn’t that mean it was a good thing?” Minghao’s brain was running at full speed trying to figure out what piece of the puzzle he was missing here.

“I liked it so much, I liked it so much that it feels weird not to have it happening now. That’s not good!”

“I can… I can hug you? Now? If you want?” Minghao hovered awkwardly at the side of Seokmin’s bed waiting for someone to tell him what to do.

“No, it’s not the same! It meant something when you did it before, you’d just be doing it now to appease me.”

“Seokmin,” Minghao was starting to get a headache, “ _Please_ , I’m not getting this, please tell me what I’m missing.”

“You never hug me! You never hug anybody, but I assumed that as your best friend, that you’d hug me! But you never do! But you did! But now you won’t ever do it again, not like that.”

“So you’re… happy that I hugged you. But you’re also sad that I hugged you?”

“Yes! Yes, I’m tired of not being hugged.”

“Seokmin, if you want me to, I’ll start hugging you more often.” Minghao was typically against gestures as intimate as hugs with people that weren’t his mother, but Seokmin was having a mental breakdown in a hospital bed over it, so he figured he could take one for the team this time.

“No, I want you to hug me because you want to, not because I want you to.”

“But… but you want me to. So that makes me want to. So I do want to.”

“It’s not the same!”

“Seokmin,” Minghao groaned, “This is bullshit, I don’t understand any of what you’re trying to say, _what_ is going on?”

Seokmin’s lower lip quivered as he tried gathering his thoughts, then he spoke in a voice that was just barely over a whisper, “I fell in love with you. And you hugged me. Because I was hurt, because you were worried about me, because you cared about me. But now, if you hug me, I’m gonna know it’s just because I asked you to. And not because you want to. And it won’t be real.”

Minghao wasn’t aware that he’d fallen into the chair below him, knees having given out sometime after the initial confession, “You _what_?”

“You heard me. Don’t make me say it again, _please_.” A few more tears slid down Seokmin’s cheeks and Minghao bit his tongue to stop himself from wiping them away; now was not the time.

“You fell for _me_? Seokmin, I,” Minghao tried gathering his thoughts, mouth open and waiting for direction from his brain, “I’m an asshole.”

“No you’re not.” Seokmin glared at Minghao, though the red puffy cheeks with tear stains streaking down them really dulled the scare factor, “Stop it.”

“ _Seokmin_ , I go out of my way not to talk to anyone. And I complain about _everything_ , you should know, you have to listen to me!”

“But you don’t avoid me. And if you do, I can come and find you and you won’t make me leave. You’re not an asshole, you’re just used to being alone, and don’t know how to cope with being around people, because you’re scared that if you _try_ to get them to like you, that they won’t, so you make them hate you on purpose so that it’s your doing and not their choice..”

Minghao blinked in bewilderment, because how dare his best friend describe him down to the smallest detail like that?

“ _Listen_ Seokmin, I really don’t think you want to do this, I,” Minghao felt his throat go dry, “You’re not wrong. I don’t like disappointing people. So I cut them off before I can. You’d be the biggest target for that. What if I get scared, and cut you off?”

“I’m not that stupid. _Yes_ , I did spend seven years of my life thinking that synecdoche was pronounced sin-eck-doshe, but I’m not dumb enough to fall for your ploys.”

“ _Is it not pronounced sin-eck-doshe_?”

Seokmin frowned, “No. It’s not. But it should be. Anyways, like I said, I’m not dumb enough to fall for that, if you ever try to pull it. I know you.”

“I…” Minghao paused, eyes darting around the room to avoid meeting Seokmin’s, “I hope you’re right.”

“I am. I always am.” Seokmin grinned, reaching for Minghao’s hand eagerly with both of his own.

Minghao didn’t respond, staring down at Seokmin with one eyebrow raised.

“Hey! Okay, _most_ times I’m right!”

Minghao stayed still, biting the inside of his cheek to stop a smile from stretching across his cheeks.

“Okay, fine, _sometimes_ , I’m right.”

“I can take that.” Minghao finally flopped down into the chair beside Seokmin’s bed, “Now, how do you pronounce synecdoche?”

\--

Seokmin returned to school two weeks later, wheelchair bound, though smiling as bright as ever. Minghao was delighted to report that he was the only one that got to push his boyfriend around the campus, and he had been the first to sign his boyfriend’s cast, as well. Seokmin’s examination of him had been scarily accurate, but for some reason, Minghao felt safe opening up around Seokmin, and he hoped that he would continue to. As much as he hated theater kids, he really couldn’t hate Lee Seokmin.


End file.
